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HISTORY 



OF THE 

FIRST CHURCH ANH PARISH IN DEDHAM, 

IN THREE DISCOURSES, 

DELIVERED ON OCCASION OF THE COMPLETION, 



NOVEMBER 18, 1838, 



OF THE SECOND CENTURY 



SINCE THE GATHERING OF SAID CHURCH. 



BY ALVAN LAMSON, D. D. 

PASTOR OF THE FIRST CHURCH IN DEDHAM. 









. , a \rv of Con ^ 








1807 




B 


t S ij a in 




Printed by 


Herman Mann 


...lii^Si .Street. 






1839. 












PS 

4 






At a meeting, at which a large portion of the male members 
of the first Congregational Church and Society in Dedham were 
present, immediately alter Divine Service, December 2d, 1838, 
the subscribers were chosen a committee to wait on the Rev. 
Dr. Lamson, and thank him for his able and eloquent Sermons 
this day completed, and request a copy for the press. 

Jeremy Stimson, 
Ebenfzer Fisher, Jr. 
Enos Foord, 
Samuel C. Mann, 
Joseph Guild. 



Errata. — On p. 80, line 18, for same, read next, 
" " 88, " 8, for south, read east. 
" "95, " 2, for 1662, read 1762. 



ADVERTISEMENT. 

The first of these Discourses was delivered on the day of the 
Annual Thanksgiving, Nov. 29, 1838, and the other two on the 
Sunday following. The Church was gathered the 8th of Nov. 
1638. This, allowing for difference of style (the rule requiring 
ten days to be added to a date occuring in the seventeenth cen- 
tury, and eleven days to one occuring in the eighteenth, in or- 
der to convert Old Style into New,) gives the 18th of Nov. as 
the two hundredth anniversary of that event. The state of the 
writer's health did not admit of its commemoration by this Church 
at that time. The difference, however, is only of a few days. 
Mr. Dexter's Centennial was not delivered till fifteen days after 
the time. In my own case I should have selected the exact day, 
it falling this year on Sunday, but that being out of the question 
for the reason just stated, the best I could do was to make my 
Discourses the first offering to my people, on resuming my la- 
bors among them after some months absence. 

In regard to my facts I have spared no labor to secure the 
greatest accuracy. My authorities, when I have not named them, 
have been, for the most part, the Proprietor's and Town Rec- 
ords, and those of the Church and Parish. I have not thought 
it necessary to encumber my pages with minute references to 
these Records, more especially as the date of the transaction 
will, in general, be a sufficient guide to any who may be dis- 
posed to consult the originals. 



SERMON L 



PSALM Ixxviii. 2. 

I WILL UTTER DARK SAYINGS OF OLD. 

On the day of the Annual Thanksgiving, one hundred years 
ago, on the spot I now occupy, and from the text, a part of 
which I have just read, a Discourse commemorative of the Fath- 
ers was delivered by the Rev. Samuel Dexter, to an audience 
which has since vanished. 1 address their descendants, some of 
them of the third and fourth generation. My own children are 
descendants in the fourth generation of him who then stood 
where I now stand. Since that time many vicissitudes have 
been witnessed. Not only are the same individuals not found, 
but the works of their hands are many of them gone. The ap- 
pearance of surrounding objects bears testimony that they are 
recent. Old things have passed away, all things have become 
new. Modes of thought, feelings, habits are not the same. All 
the arrangements of social life have undergone an essential mod- 
ification. Time and events have moved on, uttering their grave 
admonitions, teaching the mutability of earthly things, and the 
nothingness of this fleeting life. 

This Church now numbers two hundred years. The close of 
the second century of its existence claims some notice. It is a 
season, I trust, by which we may profit. From the mouldering 
relics and obscure traditions of other times, something may be 
learned, which will not merely gratify a liberal curiosity, but 
may be made subservient to a moral and religious use. 



6 

In performing the duly the occasion imposes on me, it is not 
my intention to pronounce a panegyric on the founders of the 
church or town. The task I have prescribed to myself is a more 
sober one. I am not about to eulogize the dead, but simply to 
recount a few of their acts, and those only of a religious charac- 
ter. The second centennial anniversary of the incorporation of 
the town has been commemorated in a discourse by another 
hand, and in a manner worthy the occasion and the theme,* and 
I shall not attempt to cull fruit from the same field. A differ- 
ent province is assigned to me. I am to give a sketch, as full as 
the materials within my reach admit, of the ecclesiastical history 
of the town and parish. The affairs of the church, and not 
matters of civil polity are to be my subject. 

In the minds of the New England Fathers these were inti- 
mately united. They emigrated chiefly from religious motives, 
and that they might, to use their own phrase, 'carry forward the 
reformation.' Religion was ever uppermost in their thoughts. 
But they saw clearly that religious freedom could not subsist 
without civil liberty. Accordingly, and in conformity with the 
natural order of things, the little communities which started up 
in this Western wilderness began by laying the foundation of an 
orderly civil government, partaking largely of the principles of 
liberty. This was with them a religious act ; but this done, 
some more positive provision was to be made for the support of 
public worship and the enjoyment of christian institutions and 
ordinances. And this was made their next care. 

So it was here. The original settlers in this place shared 
the spirit which animated the first adventurers to these New 
England shores. They were men of worth, distinguished alike 
for enterprise, intelligence, and love of liberty; above all, they 
were religious men, as the original instrument called the Town 
Covenant, clearly proves. This is a document of great interest 
in other respects. It shows that the original proprietors pos- 
sessed a forecast and wisdom which fitted them for their work. 
It embodies those principles, obedience to which constituted 
the governing policy of the infant settlement, which stamped on 



* Centennial Address, by Samuel F. Haven, Esq. delivered Sept. 21, 1836, 



it the character it subsequently exhibited, and which it has not 
yet wholly lost. 

But especially it shows a deep sense of accountableness to 
God, and a profound reverence for religion. Nor, in this latter 
respect, did it remain a dead letter. No sooner had the little 
band provided themselves shelter against the inclemencies of the 
weather, by such hasty structures as they were able to rear, and 
by the first rude fabric of a government taken security for the 
maintenance of social order, than true to their principles, they 
set about erecting a house for God's worship, not anticipating 
success to their enterprise till this was accomplished. This was 
in 1637, when the tide of persecution for religious liberty ran 
highest in their native land, and multitudes in consequence, 
were transporting themselves hither, notwithstanding the strict 
orders in Council prohibiting their embarkation. 

Several of these, either pleased with the company, or attract-* 
ed by the beauty and fertility of the spot, came to Dedham. 
Among them was Mr. John Allin, who afterwards became pastor 
of the church. On the 18th July, 1637, having applied for ad- 
mission here, he was accepted, and along with him, the requisite 
certificates from the magistrates being presented, Ferdinando 
Adams, Michael Metcalf, Anthony Fisher, Thomas Wight, 
Eleazer Lusher, Robert Hinsdale, John Luson, John Fisher, 
Thomas Fisher, Mr. Timothy Dalton, and John Morse. 

The company now consisted of about thirty families. They 
had hitherto met for religious worship under one of the large 
trees which then shaded the plain. Tradition differs somewhat 
as to the precise place where it stood. Probably they assem-* 
bled on different spots, and thus the varying accounts, one of 
which asserts the tree to have stood a little west of the site af- 
terwards occupied by the meeting house, and the other, on the 
east side of Dwight's brook, near the angle formed by the old 
Boston road, and that now leading to Mill Village, may be rec- 
onciled. 

As early as the first of February 1638, a committee was cho- 
sen, as it is expressed in the Records, "to contrive the frame of 
a meeting house, to be ia length thirty-six iJeet, and twenty feet 
in breadth, and between the upper and the nether sill in the 



8 

sides to be twelve feet," to be erected partly by joint labor of 
the inhabitants, and partly by rate. 

This vote, the company, notwithstanding the impediments of 
the season, immediately proceed to execute. The materials 
were to be brought from Wigwam Plain, or the way leading to 
it, but these proving inaccessible on account of the snow, those 
living near the centre were encouraged to make a loan of tim- 
ber, the town pledging itself to replace it when wanted. Thus 
the work went on, and the frame was ready to be set up. For 
this purpose a spot had been reserved, somewhat west, as I infer, 
of that afterwards selected, since the reason assigned for the 
change was the M loving satisfaction unto some neighbors on the 
East side of Little River," afterwards called Dwight's Brook. 
To this end a part of the lot of Joseph Kingsbury is purchased, 
bounded as described in the old books, north by High Street, as 
that which now sometimes goes under the name of Common 
Street, was originally called, (a name which I think should be 
restored from respect to the memory of the founders of the town, 
and convenience of reference to the ancient Records) and east 
by the way leading from the "Key," or landing, to Wigwam 
Pond, being the place which has been ever since retained, and 
on which we are now assembled. The spot being fixed upon, 
those who lived at a distance, were to be accommodated with 
building lots near the meeting house. Among these Mr. John 
Allin is expressly named, and immediately provided for. Thus 
all went on harmoniously, the frame was erected, and a covering 
of thatch was procured by persons delegated by the town to 
"mowe, gather up, and bring it home," with such assistance 
" at the town charge" as might be needed. 

Though the building was now soon in a state to be occupied, 
it was not completed till some years after. Under date, 11th 
March, 1646, I find a vote of the town ordering that it shall be 
" forthwith completely finished," the reason assigned being, that 
<: it being yet unfinished was not a supply to the congregation." 
Some years after this, (4th eleventh month, 1657) the town " de- 
clare that they will have the meeting house lathed upon the 
studs, and so daubed and whitened over workman like." The 
next year notice occurs of a " new gallery lately set up," to 



meet the wants of the growing community. This was twenty 
years after the house was erected. Still, when we reflect that 
it covered less ground than our present Vestry, and that the 
town now, 1653, numbered 166 families, nearly all of which, as 
we have a right to infer from the religious habits of the day, were 
fully represented at public worship, we are somewhat at a loss *to 
imagine how the whole congregation could have been accommo- 
dated. 

Hitherto I have been describing the proceedings in the town, 
the building of the meeting house being a joint concern of the 
Proprietors. Whde its humble walls were rising however, 
steps were taken for the organization of a church. This was a 
matter not to be lightly accomplished by our Fathers; and as 
their mode of proceeding is minutely detailed in our ancient rec- 
ords, and the subject possesses not merely a local, but a general 
historical interest, I shall be pardoned, 1 trust, if in the account 
I am about to give, I go a little more into detail than might, un- 
der other circumstances, be admissible. 

When the Massachusetts colonists emigrated, they had adopt- 
ed no settled form of church government. Though driven from 
the church of England by their inability conscientiously to con- 
form to certain prescribed ceremonies and oaths,* they scarcely 
yet acknowledged themselves as Separatists. But having cros- 
sed the ocean and planted themselves in the wilderness, where 
the arm of the bishops could not reach them, they were deter- 
mined, in the uncontrolled exercise of the right of private judg- 
ment, to go back to first principles, and devise for themselves 
such a form of ecclesiastical discipline and government, as ap- 
peared most agreeable to reason and scripture, and most nearly 
approached the simplicity of the primitive standard. 

So it was with the founders of this church They were com- 
pletely masters of themselves: they had left behind them all hu- 
man authority, when they fled to these wilds, and they were now 
entirely at liberty to carry out their notions of reform to any ex- 
tent they chose. Of this advantage they were fully sensible, 
and they were determined to use it. Hence, with the Bible in 



* See iNote A, at ilie end. 



10 

their hands, they proceeded coolly to consult their own reason 
As they prized liberty themselves, however, they did not wish to 
deprive others of it by insisting that they should adopt implicitly 
their conclusions, or conform to their standard. This they are 
very careful to say in the Preface to their Records, and it is an 
honorable Jxait in their character, and too important to be omit- 
ted These Records purport to contain a " brief history of the 
church of Christ gathered in his name at Dedham, in New 
England, the 8th of the 9th month, relating only such passages 
of Providence and carriages of affairs thereof, as were thought 
most material and useful, both for the present state of the church 
to review upon any occasion, and also for future ages to make 
u ie of in any case which may occur wherein light may be fetch- 
ed from any examples of things passed, no way intending," it 
is added, " hereby to bind the conscience of any to walk by this 
pattern, or to approve of the practice of this church further than 
it may appear to be according to the rule of the gospel." This 
is iii the true spirit of liberality. 

The Record then proceeds to state, that the Inhabitants of the 
Town, being at this time, 1637, about thirty families, i'ew of 
them known to each other, having come together from different 
parts of England, it was " thought meet," that " such as affect- 
id church communion," and others* who might choose to come, 
should assemble at each others' houses, every fifth day, in order 
to become better acquainted with the "spiritual temper and 
gifts" of each other, and 'lovingly to discourse and consult to- 
gether" upon questions of civil order, and the right constitution 

of a church. 

It is a subject of regret that the transactions of these meetings 
relating to temporal matters, or as it is rather quaintly, but for- 
cibly expressed, to the "just, peaceable, and comfortable pro- 
ceeding in civil society in the town" are not entered on the rec- 
ord. Those which which pertain to religion are related with a 
good degree of minuteness. The questions discussed, with the 
results, are given, and furnish a curious illustration of the habits 
of thinking and tastes of the day I will give one or two of 
them as a specimen. 

" 1st Question. Whether such as in the judgment of charity, 



11 

look upon one another as christians, may gather together, speak, 
and hear the word, pray, and fast, or confer together, being out 
of church order, as we are, and many unknown to each other." 

Qu. 2. Concerning the duties ofj christian love, how far we 
stand bound thereto in our condition." 

Other questions follow, relating to the "matter of a church;" 
the mode of gathering it; its rights and powers; the ordinances 
committed to it ; its officers ; "the discerning and receiving 
members into it," and kindred topics These questions were 
discussed with becoming gravity, in a kind and libera! spirit, 
and with much practical good sense united with a due degree of 
theological astuteness. 

In this way the winter passed. When the spring opened, 
several of the settlers being members of the Watertown church, 
the Pastor of that church was desired to dismiss a portion of 
them, together with Mr. Thomas Garter, who had "exercised 
some good time there, and knew the people." says Mr Allin, 
"better than I," that so the foundation might be laid of a " chris- 
tian society among us." This request was not complied with, — 
the Pastor of Watertown objecting to " dismiss any but into a 
settled church " It was not, as I infer, till more than three 
years after, that the members in question received their dismis- 
sion, for under date of July 1641, I find a record stating that 
divers brethren and sisters of the Watertown church residing 
among us " were received, Mr.J Philli pj, their Pastor, and Mr. 
Carter, and Mr. How, elders, testifying in their favor " Mr: 
Carter afterwards became minister of Woburn What office 
was designed for him here, at that time, had he chosen to come, 
does not appear. 

Denied assistance from this source, the people requested Mr. 
Allin, whom, says the Record, the Town had invited here with 
a view to " future employment in public work," to undertake, 
with such others as he might see fit to associate with him, the 
business of organizing a church. He first applies to Mr. Ralph 
Wheelock, and they jointly add eight more, in all ten. These, 
after some preliminary steps, agree to go out each in turn, 
while his character and qualifications for church membership 
should be scanned by the rest, they severally promising peacea- 



}2 

bly to submit to the judgment of the company, to be "taken or 
left" as might seem fit. The result was, that Mr. John Allin, 
R. Wheelock, John Luson, John Frayry, Eleaser Lusher, and 
Robert Hinsdale, six of the ten, are accented The remaining 
four, Mr. Edward Alleyn, Anthony Fisher, Joseph Kingsbury, 
and Thomas Morse are not then received. Edward Alleyn, 
who was at first objected to* was afterwards admitted, as also 
Anthony Fisher, though the latter was subsequently rejected. 
Of the remaining two, one besides being thought to be "too 
much addicted to the world," exhibited other marks of human in- 
firmity. Particularly, "the Lord left him," so says the record, 
"without any provocation thereto, to such a distempered pas- 
sionate flying out upon one of the company" who had been 
deputed to "follow home some things close upon him," that re- 
maining "stifle," he was "given over " The other being- 
thought "dark and unsatisfactory in respect to the work of 
grace," was also for the time, rejected, though both were some 
years afterwards received, as was also Anthony Fisher. 

John Hunting, recently from England, was admitted towards 

the end of Summer, making in all eight now ready to enter 

into church communion. Still the work was delayed, partly 

from the diffidence of those engaged in it, and partly from their 

earnest desire to secure the services of Mr. John Phillips, a 

minister then recently from England, not Henry Phillips, as has 

been generally supposed | In this, after some negociation, they 

were unsuccessful. Mr. Phillips did not come at the time, and 

when he did come, he staid but a single year; when he left and 

returned with his wife to England. Their inability to obtain 

him was a disappointment more deeply felt, if we may judge 

from the strong expressions used in the records, than the former 

in regard to Mr. Carter 

The company now left to its own resources, resolve to delay 
no longer. They had previously made known their intention to 
the Town and invited scrutiny. It. now only remained for them, 



♦Among others, ' Mr. Daulton in his own name and the name of the 
church of Watertown, objected some grievances and offences' relating to 
some neglect of that church and its ordinances. 

t See Note 13. 



13 

according to the usage of the day, to give notice to the several 
churches, and to the civil magistrates. Having so far complied, 
however, with what was enjoined on them by the common prac- 
tice of the times, they were exceedingly careful that their liber- 
ties should not thereby be enthralled. An incident is recorded 
in this connexion, which is worth relating, as it shows the domi- 
nant policy in occasional collision, or threatened collision with 
sentiments of popular liberty Indeed the mine was repeatedly 
on the point of being sprung ; and there was constant danger of 
an explosion, so long as the old strictness in regard to the pow- 
er of the civil magistrate in matters of religion, and the connex- 
ion between church membership and the right of political suf- 
frage, prevailed. 

In making their communication to the magistrates, they had 
been "told by some," that the General Court had ordained that 
no church should be gathered without the advice of other 
churches. Conceiving that this might be " prejudicial to the 
liberty of God's people," and contained the "seeds of usur- 
pation," says the Record, "we desired the Governor to inform us 
of that law, and the true intent thereof; which he professed was 
only this, that the Court, or law enacted, did no way intend to 
abridge such a liberty of gathering into church fellowship pri- 
vately, as it were unlawful, or as if such a church were not a 
true church rightly gathered; but that the scope was this, that 
if any people of unsound judgments, or erroneous way, &c , 
should privately set up churches amongst them, the Common- 
wealth would not so approve them as to communicate that free- 
dom and other privileges unto them, which they did unto others, 
or protect them in their government if they saw their way dan- 
gerous to the public peace; which answer," it is added, "gave 
us satisfaction in that scruple," thouglrin the "freedom and oth- 
er privileges" referred to, and which would be forfeited in the 
circumstances described, was included the elective franchise, 
now generally esteemed one of the dearest rights of the citizen, 
and without which popular liberty would be thought to exist but 
in name. 

Letters, a copy of which is still preserved, were then issued 
to the Elders and Brethren of the churches in Boston, Roxbury, 



14 

and other places, requesting their presence and counsel, the 8th 
day of the 9th month, corresponding to the 18th Nov. of our 
present style, being the time fixed upon for the solemn transac- 
tion, and expressing the hope that neither the "season of the 
year" nor "the rawness of the new plantation" might prevent 
them from coming. They arrived at the time appointed, and 
the ceremony proceeded. It had been previously agreed, that 
Mr. Wheelock should begin with prayer, and Mr. Allin should 
follow, first praying, then " by the way of the exercise of his 
gifts," should speak to the assembly, and conclude with prayer. 
Next came the profession of faith or doctrine, and history of 
personal experiences. The Elders and messengers present, and 
the whole people were then called upon to state any impediments 
to the further proceeding, if any were known to them. Mr. 
Mather, Teacher of the church in Dorchester, replied in the 
name of the rest, that they had "nothing to declare from the 
Lord which should move them to desist;" but added a word of 
"loving exhortation in respect of some passages proposed by 
some of the brethren." The covenant was then publicly read, 
to which all assented; the right hand of fellowship was then ex- 
tended to each of them by the Elders, and so the transaction 
was finished.* 

The church was thus gathered, but it being still without offi- 
cers, Mr. Allin was requested for the time, to supply the place 
of a Teacher, and with the assistance of Mr. Wheelock, to see 
that its affairs were orderly conducted. During the winter fol- 
lowing, ten additional members were admitted The company 
now consisting of eighteen, it was resolved, the next spring, to 
proceed to fill the more important offices. All eyes were im- 
mediately turned on Mr. Allin, either for Pastor or Teacher; 
for there was some doubt to which office he should be appointed. 
After much reasoning and consultation on the subject, however, 
he professing that he was indifferent which office was selected, 
but thinking that he was better qualified for that of pastor, the 
rest acquiesed. At this time there appears to have been no oth- 
er candidate thought of for the office. At least the church rec- 
ords mention no other. 



* See Note C. 



15 

The next step was to select some one for ruling Elder, and 
for this office four persons are named, R. Wheelock, John 
Hunting, Mr. Thomas Carter, of Watertown, before mentioned, 
and John Kingsbury of the same place. It being stated, how- 
ever, that the church in Watertown was about to elect Mr. Car- 
ter to the same office there, and John Kingsbury objecting to be- 
ing considered a candidate, these two were dropped. The 
choice now lay between Hunting and Wheelock. After a good 
deal of deliberation, the advice of the Elders of the churches in 
Roxbury and Dorchester being taken, Hunting is finally select- 
ed. Wheelock quietly submits, marvelling that he was ever 
thought of for the office. Pie was the ancestor of the Founder 
and first President of Dartmouth College.* 

Having made choice of a Pastor and ruling Elder, it was 
thought by the companv, that the remaining offices might with 
safety, and perhaps with advantage to the church, be left to be 
filled at a future time, when better materials were at command. 

The 24th of April, 1639, was selected for the ordination of 
those already chosen. Before this day arrived, the questions 
then so much agitated, relating to the nature of ordination, the 
right to ordain, and to whom this right belonged, were amply 
discussed by the members of the church. The conclusion, to 
which they arrived, was that ordination was but the consumma- 
tion, or completion of the election, "being but a declaration of 
the same, and installing into office," that the same body which 
could elect, could also, of right ordain. This doctrine, which 



* He is called by the biographers of the President , the Rev. Ralph Wheel- 
ock, and is said to have been born in Stropshire. in England, in 1600, and to 
have been educated at Clare Hall, Cambridge. It is added, that he was 
an eminent nonconformist Preacher in his native country, and that after he 
went te Med field, then a part of Dedhara, he was in the habit of preaching 
occasionally there, and in the neighboiing new settlements, but declined 
taking charge of any particular church : that he was representative of the 
town several years: and that he died at the age of 83. This statement 
is derived from modern sources apparently entitled to respect, though, I 
confess, I should have been better pleased, if in regard to some particulars 
embraced in it, the authorities had been given. See Memoirs of Presi- 
dent Wheelock, by Doctors M'Clure and Parish, and a Biographical No- 
tice of him by Pies. Allen, Amer. Quart. Keg. vol. 9. 



16 

sanctioned lay ordination, or ordination by the brethren, was the 
prevailing doctrine of the New England churches at that time, 
and it was literally adhered to in practice. So it was here. The 
brethren ordained; the Elders of the neighboring churches, be- 
ing present and looking on, but taking no part in the ceremony, 
excepting at the conclusion, giving the right hand in token of 
approbation and fellowship. Elder Hunting was first ordained, 
John Allin, R. Wheelock, and Edward Alleyn being deputed by 
the brethren to perform the office. This they did by laying 
their hands on his head, Mr. Allin, at the same time offering a 
prayer, after which he added, "In the name of the Lord Jesus, 
and by his power committed to his church, we do ordain thee, 
John Hunting, unto the office of a ruling Elder in this church 
of Christ." The Elder, with the brethren before named, 
then proceeded to lay his hands on the head of Mr. Allin, ac- 
companied with prayer, and "in the name of Christ and his 
church," so the Record proceeds "did ordain him to the office 
of Pastor in the church," the whole proceeding on the part of 
the Elder, being marked with "that gravity, comely order, 
without hesitation, and with such effectual and apt prayer and 
exhortations to the church, and to the Pastor, as gave sweet 
testimony to all of the presence of the Lord with him in these 
first fruits of his office." Mr. Whiting of Lynn, in the name of 
the Elders and other christians present, then gave the right 
hand of fellowship, and the assembly was dismissed. The next 
Lord's day, notice was given by the Pastor, to the church mem- 
bers to bring their children to receive baptism on the coming 
Sunday, and prepare themselves to partake of the supper on the 
next following. A minute account of the administration of the 
latter rite follows, after which the Record down to the close of 
Mr. Allin's ministry, about 33 years, contains little besides an 
account of admissions into the church and baptisms. 

We may infer that the times were tranquil. The peace of 
the church appears not to have been disturbed by discontented 
or factious spirits. Indeed the turbulent passions found no 
aliment here. The leading men in the place took delight in 
sober and pacific counsels: the Plantation went on regularly 
advancing in population and wealth; its affairs proceeded pros- 



17 

perously, and the fruits of religion exhibited in the life, but 
without ostentation and uncharitableness, left few materials for 
the ecclesiastical chronicler. 

A small number of miscellaneous facts is all I can glean dur- 
ing this period either from the records of the church or town. 
The church received no other officers than the two above 
named, till after the death of Mr. Allin, except the two Deacons, 
Henry Chickering and Nathan Aldis, who having for some time 
officiated, without a formal election, were on the 23d of June, 
1650, regularly chosen to office, and were ordained the follow- 
ing Sunday, the ordination of Deacons being then customary. 
This was a little more than eleven years after the foundation of 
the church. 

The same year, the celebrated Cambridge Platform, accom- 

*7panied with the Westminster confession of faith, having been 

previously submitted to the General Court, and approved by 

them, arrived for confirmation. The church passed a vote of 

assent apparently without debate. 

A few years after, in 1659, as we learn from the Proprietors 
Record, six copies of Mr. Norton's Book respecting the Qua- 
kers, and eight copies of the Declaration of the General Court 
in defence of its proceedings against them, were received for the 
use of the town, and distributed in the several sections of it by 
vote, but no further notice is taken of them, or of the subject. 
The settlers had other concerns to attend to, and do not appear 
to have mingled in any of the exciting religious controversies of 
the day. They were pursuing their even, quiet way, in the lit- 
tle retired nook they had chosen for themselves, and when not 
employed about their farms and gardens, the latter of which 
particularly attracted notice, and drew forth many encomiums 
for the abundance and fineness of their fruits, they were at no 
loss for occupation. Many affairs of economical arrangement, 
or of public use or accommodation, were to be looked after. 
The burial ground, and the way leading to it, were to be clear- 
ed, smoothed, and fenced;* and many regulations, some of 



* The following record of 1638, Would seem lo relate to (be origin of the 
burial place. ' Nicholas Phillips ami Joseph Ivingsbury upon other satis- 
faction in land laid out from the Town unto each of them, do lay down 

3 



18 

them of «i minute character, were to he made and enforced, re- 
lating to public worship and its appendages. Looking back 
from our present position, we may be tempted to smile at some 
of these regulations, and wonder how they could have been ne- 
cessary, but circumstances no doubt demanded them. If the 
General Court sent an order requiring the Selectmen to see that 
the catechising of the children was not neglected; or some per- 
sons were inconsiderate enough to tie their horses to the ladder 
of the meeting house, thus causing it to be displaced, or "pluck- 
ed to pieces," and obstructing the passage to and from the 
door, these, though not matters of precisely the same impor- 
tance, yet certainly presented tit subjects of attention. 

The manners of the times might be illustrated by many inci- 
dents otherwise unimportant, which might be extracted from our 
old records. The seating of persons in the meeting house, at 
this period, and down to the time, when pews were erected, oc- 
casioned no little perplexity. Votes of the town are constantly 
occurring on the subject, sometimes referring the matter to the 
Selectmen, and sometimes to a committee chosen for the pur- 
pose, and sometimes to the Elders and Deacons. But the ar- 
rangement never proved satisfactory; some were constantly 
murmuring; and the boys being seated together, it could not but 
happen, that while the preacher was handling some nice point of 
doctrine, or dilating on some weighty text after the fashion of 
the day, the buoyant spirits of early life would sometimes display 
themselves in a manner, if not to disconcert the gravity of the 
more serious minded hearer, at least, not altogether consistent 
with the decorum belonging to the place. 

I find nothing more of an ecclesiastical nature in the Records, 



each of them to the Town, one parcel of the south end of their house lots, 
and betwixt the same and the swamp), for the use of a public burial placet 
for the Town forever, 6 of the 2 mo. 1638.' Yet the lot of 12 acres, origi- 
nally granted to Nicholas Phillips is described as bounded on the South, in 
part, by the ' burying place,' though on the West, extending through to 
the Swamp, as it was called. Fob 1, also Book of Grants. Ezekiel Hol- 
liman's lot, being one of the two above mentioned, conveyed by Hollimaa 
to Kingsbury, is described in the Book of Giants, (see also fol. S) &s 
bounded on the South by the way leading to the ' burying place.' These 
g rants were made in 1636. 



If) 

worth relating, except what refers to the origin and disposition 
of the church property, which will be given its proper place. 
Little is to be gathered from other sources, though incidental 
notices of the Settlement are occasionally met with in cotempo- 
rary writings. Johnson, in his Wonder-Working Providence, 
published in 1654, after alluding to the prosperity of the town, 
then consisting of about one hundred families,* its "pleasant 
streams," and abundant "garden fruits," fit to supply the mar- 
kets of the neighboring metropolis, "whose coin and commodi- 
ties," says he, "allure the inhabitants to make many a long 
walk," speaks of them in their character as a religious commu- 
nity, as having "continued in much love and unity from their 
first foundation." The "close clouded woods," they had al- 
ready converted into smiling fields, a pleasant object, he says, "to 
the lonesome travellers in their solitary journey to Canectico, 
(Connecticut) who, it is added, in the quaint language of the 
time, derived much comfort from "eyeing the habitat ion of 
God's people in their way, ready to administer refreshment to 
the weary, f 

Materials are wanting for an extended personal history of Mr. 
Allin. Few incidents of his life are recorded, and those only 
serve to excite the wish that more were known. He was born, 
according to Cotton Mather, in Kngland, in 1596, in what part 
of it we are not informed, nor do we find any account of his ear- 
ly life, or of the place of his education. Mather speaks of his 
progress in the "tongues and arts," and calls him a "sufficient 
scholar," and diligent student, and makes use of other terms of 
general panegyric, but does not descend to particulars. Per- 
haps he had not the means, or he might have been willing ta 
gratify his taste for odd quotations, and quaint conceits at the 
expense of facts. 

From the scanty information he chooses to impart, we learn 

* I confess my inability to reconcile this statement wild that of a com- 
mittee of the General Court, who three years after, fay that the settlement 
consisted of 166 families. Of the two authorities, if I select between them, 
I prefer the latter. 

t 2 Hist. Coll. VII. 9, 10. See also Jesselyn'e account of Two Voya- 
ges to New England, 3 Hist. Coll. III. 320 . 



20 

that Mr. Alhn was a preacher before he quitted England. His 
name appears in Mather's iirst class, embracing those who were 
in the "actual exercise of their ministry when they left," and 
Neal, speaks of him as one of those who were "already in or- 
ders in the Church of England, but being disturbed by the eccle- 
siastical courts for the cause of nonconformity, "transplanted 
themselves to New England."* He went on board the ship which 
was to convey him hither in disguise, to elude pursuit, but hav- 
ing "passed Land's-End," as is related, he with a fellow pas- 
senger, John Eisk, afterwards settled at Chelmsford, who had 
fled under similar circumstances, "entertained the company 
with two Sermons every day, besides other agreeable devo- 
tions," thus giving occasion for the remark of one of the passen- 
gers, who on being called to account for diverting himself with 
hook and line on the Lord's day, very innocently, or very arch- 
ly, remarked that he "did not know when the Lord's day was; 
he thought every day was a Sabbath day, for they did nothing 
but pray and preach all the week long."| He arrived in 1637, 
and the same summer, became an inhabitant of Dedham, though 
not admitted a freeman of the Colony till December of the next 
year. His influence in the civil affairs of the town must have 
been decidedly felt, and he was as we have seen, the principal 
agent in the religious organization. For this employment no 
man could have been better fitted by education, temper, and 
habits. He became Pastor of the church, April 29, 1639, and 
in discharge of the duties of his office was faithful and assidu- 
ous. 

He was from disposition averse to controversy, but his singu- 
lar candor and amenity of temper, no less than his ingenuity 
and learning, caused him to be solicited to take part in discus- 
sions of an exciting nature, and deeply affecting the public mind. 
When it became necessary in 1646, to defend the rights of the 
Colonists against the attempt to bring them into subjection to the 
British Parliament, the Magistrates having first delivered their 
opinion, the Elders were requested to declare their sentiments, 

• Hist. New England, vol. I, p. 195. For a conjecture in regard to 
the place of Mr. Allin's residence in England, see Note D. 
t Mather's Magnalia, vol. 1, p. 431. 



21 

and Mr. Allia of Dedham was selected as their organ for this 
purpose. The next day he presented the opinions of the Elders 
in writing. The paper was worthy the time and the occasion. 
It was firm and decided, explaining the nature and limitations of 
Colonial allegiance in opposition to the claims and usurpations 
of the Commissioners for the Plantations, and giving full sup- 
port to the magistrates, who were determined on resistance.* 

About this time, too, questions of an ecclesiastical character 
were perpetually starting up, some of which were new, and oc- 
casioned no little agitation of the public mind, in this and the 
mother country. In the exercise of their newly acquired liber- 
ty, the emigrants had departed widely from usages, a reverence 
for which though greatly impaired at home, was yet far from 
having been extinguished. Some of their brethren in England 
became alarmed at the extent, to which they pushed their prin- 
ciples, and letters of inquiry, and occasionally of entreaty and 
remonstrance, were received, and controversies ensued, and 
many books and pamphlets were written. The Synod of Cam- 
bridge, to which the churches owed their Platform, had not yet 
been called, nor had there been any authoritative exposition of 
the discipline of the New England churches, as indeed there 
was not entire uniformity in practice. 

It was while the religious affairs of the Colony were in this 
condition, that Mr. Allin was first called to take the field as a 
controversial writer. In 1637, f a number of Divines in Eng- 
land transmitted a Letter to their brethren on this side the wa- 
ter, requesting their views in relation to certain points of Eccle- 
siastical Discipline and Order, on which they had been repre- 
sented as having embraced opinions at variance with those pro- 
fessed by them before their embarkation, and still holden by the 
most eminent nonconformist Divines of England. The points 
enumerated are nine, called the "Nine Positions." To this 
communication the New England Divines return an answer in 
1638, and this not reaching its destination they send another the 

* Winthrop II. 280, 282. 

t The date is so given in the title page, though in the defence by Allin 
and Shepard, the Nine Questions, or Positions are said to have been seat 
over in I6S6. 



22 

next year. The Answer contains a statement of their views 
concerning the Nine Positions, accompanied by a Letter in 
which they acknowledge, that though not guilty of all the ex- 
travagancies imputed to them, their sentiments had, in some 
respects, undergone a change since they had left their native 
shore, to breath the free air of the wilderness. For this change 
they think that they saw good reason; they were seekers after 
truth, and churches, they said, "had still need to grow from de- 
fects to purity, and from reformation to reformation age af- 
ter age." This answer called forth a Reply by John Ball in 
behalf of the Divines of Old England, a manuscript copy of 
which was sent to the Elders of the New England Churches, 
but was never received. It was, however, printed in 1643, to- 
gether with the above mentioned correspondence and Answer to 
the Nine Positions, which it was intended to rebut, and the next 
year, 1644, a copy arrived in this country.* This Reply was 
thought to deserve notice, and John Allin of Dedham with the 
assistance of the Rev. Thomas Shepard of Cambridge, was em- 
ployed to prepare a rejoinder. This bears date, Nov. 28, 1645, 
and was printed in London in 1648, under the title of a " De- 
fence of the Nine Questions or Positions." The manner in 
which the work was executed, was considered as creditable to 
the ability of the authors. Their names long carried weight with 
them. In a Tract published with the approbation of several em- 
inent ministers, in 1693, the book is referred to as an authority, 

* A copy of this Book, now rare and valuable, belongs to the Library 
of Harvard University. The following is its title: * A letter of many 
Ministers in Old England, requesting the Judgment of their Reverend 
Brethren in New England concerning Nine Positions. Written Anno 
Dom. 1637. Together with their Answer thereto returned, Anno 1639. 
And the Reply made unto said Answer, and sent over unto them, Anno 
Dom. 1640. Now Publishad (by occasion mentioned in the Epistle to the 
Reader, following the next page) upon the desire of many godly and faith- 
ful Ministers in and about the city of London, who love and seek the truth. 
By Simeon Ash and William Ralhband. London, Printed for Thomas 
Underhill, at the sign of the Bible in great Wood street, 1643. 

The Answer is also found in a collection of Tracts on " Church Govern- 
ment and Church Covenant, 11 Sic. published in London the same year, with 
a Preface by Hugh Peter, also in Harvard Coll. Library. 



23 

containing the judgment of two old Divines, both of them, it is 
added, " famous in New England. " It was many years in es- 
teem on questions of Order and Discipline, though now valuable 
only to the historian and antiquary.* 

The .Synod of Cambridge, originating in causes similar to 
those which had called forth the controversy just referred to, 
and which gave birth to the well known Platform, met soon af- 
ter, and at an adjourned term, 1648, Mr. Allin preached, from 
the 15th chapter of Acts, containing a history of the Council of 
Jerusalem. Governor Winthrop bestows a warm eulogium on 
the discourse, and says that the author handled his subject both 
as regards its " doctrines and applications," in a " godly and 
learned" manner, with a " clear discovery and refutation of such 
errors, objections, and scruples, as had been raised by some 
young heads in the country." While he was preaching an in- 
cident, as related by Winthrop, occurred, which, though for a 
moment it caused a slight tremor, on the part of a portion of his 
auditors, was soon converted into matter of joy and triumph. 
" It fell out," savs the narrator, " about the midst of his ser- 
mon, there came a snake into the seats, where many of the el- 
ders sat behind the preacher." Several of them shifted their 
position, to avoid the intruder; but one, an Elder from Brain- 
tree, " a man," adds the journalist, " of much faith," trod upon 
its head, and so held it fast with his foot and staff, until it was kil- 
led. As the fancies of men were then fruitful in detecting oc- 
cult meanings and emblematic significations in the events of 
every day life, and especially in whatever savored of the mar- 
vellous and strange, it is not surprising that so singular an oc- 
currence should not have been allowed to pass without comment 
and inference. " It is out of doubt," says Mr. Winthrop, " the 
Lord discovered somewhat of his mind in it." " The serpent is 
the devil; the synod the representative of the churches of Christ 
in New England, the destruction and dissolution of which he 
has in time past, and now recently been plotting, but he is now 
foiled ; their faith in the seed of the woman overcame him, and 
crushed his head." The synod then " went on comfortably," as 
we are told, and soon finished its business.! 



* See Note E. t Winthrop's Journal II. p. 330. 



24 

The public mind, however, was not. long after agitated by 
other questions. One of these related to the proper subjects of 
baptism, and the relation in which the children of members in full 
communion stood to the church. This was in some respects a 
political question, as the circumstance of church membership 
then involved the most important civil rights. It appears, how- 
ever, to have been discussed chiefly as a question of ecclesias- 
tical order. Both the parties, the stricter, and the more liberal, 
enlisted men of name and influence in the colony. The one, 
the more strict, contended that only members of churches in full 
communion, were entitled to have their children baptised. The 
other was in favor of allowing greater latitude on the subject. 
The Synod of 1662 took the more liberal ground. Its decisions 
were attacked by President Chauncy, of Harvard University, 
and by Mr John Davenport of New Haven. To the work of the 
former, called the Antisynodalia, Mr. Allin replied; to that of 
the latter, Mr. Richard Mather of Dorchester. Mr. Allin, as 
champion for the council, of course, advocated the less rigorous 
views. He urged various arguments from reason and scripture, 
in support of the decision of the Synod. He maintained that the 
doctrine of the Synod was the old doctrine, and not any notion 
recently broached; that it was holden by the great lights of the 
church, by Calvin, Cavtwright, Perkins, Ames, and " hundreds 
more;" that it was the doctrine generally of the framers of the 
Cambridge Platform, but from respect to some few, who disliked 
it, it was not inserted.* One expression he uses, which is too 
characteristic of his enlarged and philanthropic spirit, to be 
omitted. When his antagonist, Chauncy, objected, that accor- 
ding to the views of the Synod, " God's covenant would be en- 
tailed to a thousand generations," Allin replies, "what hurt in 
that? Blessed be his name for it." 



* Cotton Mather says, that the propositions asserted by the Synod of 
1662, would have been inserted in the Cambridge Platform but for the 
"fierce opposition of one eminent pers-on," which caused John Noiton, who 
was desirous of their introduction, but was of a "peaceable temper, 1 ' to for- 
bear urging them any further, by which means, when adopted by another 
Synod, "more than twice seven years after, many people did generally 
count them novelties." They were certainly, he affirms, " the first princi- 
ples of New England." Magnalia I. 265. 



25 

The controversy in which the Synod originated, however, did 
not soon subside. When, five years after, John Davenport of 
New Haven, at the age of seventy, removed to Boston, and was 
invited to accept the office of Pastor of the First Church, lie was 
opposed on account of his too great strictness, and ids opposition 
to the decisions of the Council; and the whole community wag, 
for a time, thrown into a ferment. The result was, a secession 
from the first church, and the formation of a new. Ministers and 
people were divided in opinion. A large portion of them, how- 
ever, espoused the cause of the seceders, and the whole pro- 
ceeding, on the part of Mr. Davenport and his adherents, was 
severely censured. Seventeen ministers, in the list of whom we 
find several names of greatest note in the colony, and at the 
head of which stands that of John Allin, bore public testimony 
against it. The deputies finally decided in favor of the old 
church. At a subsequent session, a Petition, or Address, was 
presented by the ministers, defending themselves from the as- 
persions which, as they assert, had been thrown upon them, and 
repelling the charge of innovation and apostacy of which they, 
with the generality of the ministry, were accused, and solemnly 
professing, that they still " adhered to the safe and sober prin- 
ciples of the congregational way, in opposition to separation, 
morellian or anarchichal confusion, and licentious toleration." 
Among the names of these petitioners, too, that of John Allin of 
Dedham stands first.* The petition in fact, but re-asserted the 
doctrine he had maintained in his defence of the Synod, a copy 
of which presented by himself to the Rev. Thomas Shepard, of 
Cambridge, I have had before me in preparing these notices. 
The Preface to the Book is dated with a little more particularity 
than usual, as follows: c ' From my study in Dedham, in N. F, 
6 day, 11 month, 1663.J 

fe * Hutchinson, vo!.l, pp.233, 243. 251. 

t The work bears the following title—" Animadversions upon the Ami. 
synodalia Americana, a Treatise printed in Old England, in the Name of 
the Dissenting Brethren in the Synod held at Boston in New England, 1662 
Tendiog to clear the Elders and Churches of New England from thos& 
Evils and Declinings charged upon many of them in the two Prefaces be- 
fore said Book. Together with an Answer unto the Reasons alleged fcs 

4 



26 

The doctrine of the Synod, with few exceptions, prevailed in 
the Massachusetts Colony until a comparatively recent period. 
This church long adhered to the liberal views of its first Pastor, 
though at the time I became connected with it, how long before 
I am not informed, they had been made to yield in practice, to 
the opposite and narrower principle. 

The above mentioned controversial writings, which he under- 
took, the latter especially, with great reluctance, and only at 
the earnest entreaty of his friends, are, I believe, the only pro- 
ductions of Mr. Allin given to the public during his life, the pub- 
lication of the two last Sermons he preached being posthumous. 
There is among the Hutchinson Papers belonging to the Libra- 
ry of the Massachusetts Historical Society, an unpublished Let- 
ter of his, addressed to the Rev. Thomas Shepard of Cambridge, 
on the subject of the beginning of the Sabbath, in which he con- 
tends against the propriety on the part of Christians, of observ- 
ing the Jewish division of the day. The date is wanting. I 
have also in my possession, an original Letter of his, bearing 
date the 11th April, 1671, four months only before his death, 
and addressed to " the Rev. Mr. John Eliot, Teacher, and Mr. 
Samuel Danforth, Pastor of the church of Christ in Roxbury," 
on the subject of the divisions in the church of Braintree. It is 
interesting chiefly as showing that the author retained his vigor, 
and habits of active benevolence to the end of his days. Of the 
last few years of his life we know little. His labors appear to 
have suffered an interruption in 1668, for we hear much of a 
claim of Peter Woodward, in behalf of his brother William, for 
forty pounds, due to him, as it was contended, from the town, 
for preaching at that time. 

Mr. Allin died on the 26th August, 1671, at the age of seven- 
ty-five, after, as Cotton Mather informs us, an " easy sickness 
of ten days." His " beloved wife Katherine," as he calls her 
in his records, died three days after, and they were both buried 



the Opinions of the Dissenters. And a Reply to such Answers as are giv- 
en to the Arguments of the Synod. By John Allin, Pastor of the Church 
of Christ at Dedham in N. England. Cambridge ; Printed by S. G. & M. 
J. for Hezekiah Usher of Boston, 1664." 



27 

in the same grave.' She was the widow of Governor Thomas 
Dudley, and was married to Mr. Allin Nov. 8th, 1653, a little 
more than three months after the Governor's death, f Mr. Al- 
lin's first wife, Margaret, having been dead a little more than 
six months. The birth and baptism of three sons, by his last 
wife, Benjamin, Daniel, and Eliezer, are recorded in the church 
books. 

After his death, his people in testimony of their affection, pub- 
lished the two last Sermons he preached, " writing their Pre- 
face," as Mather expresses it, " with tears." They defrayed 
the expenses of his funeral, and voted also, that a " convenient 
tomb, or monument, of stone and lime-mortar, and covered with 
meet timber, be erected over his grave, and an inscription 
cut thereon, with the date of his death." This vote, it would 
seem, was carried into effect; but it is not known that any ves- 
tige of the tomb now remains, nor does tradition mark the spot 
where it stood. Mr Allin left a monument better than brass or 
marble, in the memory of his many excellences, and the fruit of 
his labors yet abiding. He possessed a vigorous, acute, and dis- 
criminating understanding, and for the age, and the circum- 
stances in which he was placed, he wrote well. His style is 
marked by simplicity, directness, and force, though not by ele- 
gance. All his measures appear to have been characterised by 
good sense, moderation, and a plain straight forward honesty. 
He was prudent, firm, and energetic, entering on his work with 
calmness, and pursuing it with a decision and perseverence, 
sufficient to overcome all obstacles. He lived at a period when 
the affairs of the Colony required men of active habits, as well 



* For the last mentioned fact \ am indebted to the records of (he Ilox- 
bury church, kept by Mr. Dant'oril>, the:, Pastor, where it stands alone and 
without comment. 

t Mrs. Allin must have possessed some attractions either of mind or 
person, or both, for she had been once married (to Samuel HackburneJ be- 
fore her marriage with the first Gov. S>ud!ey. She was the mother of (Sew, 
Joseph Dudley. Joseph, who was the son of his father's old age, (being born 
when he was 70,) passed bis childhood here, "under the care,' says the 
Boston News Letter of April 11th, 1720, in a notice of his death, 'of bis 
excellent mother, and the Rev. Mr. Allin who married her." 



28 

aspationt thought, and he shrank from no duty which the exi- 
gencies of the times imposed. He occasionally shared the la- 
bors of Eliot in his benevolent visits among the Indians; he 
took a lively interest in all the great questions of the day, and 
in numerous ways rendered no small service to the public. To 
his other qualities he added uncommon amenity of disposition, 
modesty, and gentleness. In all the notices of him I have met 
with, in cotemporary or other writings entitled to respect, these 
traits of his character are spoken of with peculiar emphasis. 
There must have been something remarkable in the degree, or 
manner in which they manifested themselves, to account for the 
warm encomiums uniformly bestowed on them by those who had 
the best opportunity of knowing him. 

Theological discussions, which too often have the effect of 
inflaming the passions, and infusing acrimony into the mildest 
natures, appear not for one moment to have disturbed the seren- 
ity of his mind. His spirits remained sunny still, and his bland- 
ness of temper never forsook him. No acerbity of feeling dis- 
closes itself in any portion of his controversial writings, but 
good humor, fairness, christian courtesy, and a honied sweet- 
ness* are every where visible, even when he deals the hardest 



• It was one of ihe exercises* of wit, in former days, to anagrammatize 
names, as it was called, by so transposing their letters as to form words or 
sentences expressive of some trait or quality of the individual. Thus, from 
William Noy, a laborious lawyer in the time of Charles I. was elicited, " 4 I 
moyl in law. 1 ' The conceit was often sufficiently far fetched. The name of 
John A Niii was converted unto "In Honi All," as indicating his disposi- 
tion. Johnson, in his Wonder Working Providence, speaks of him as the 
1 humble, and heavenly minded, Mr. John Allin, a man of a very courteous 
behaviour, full of sweet Christian love towards all, and with much meek- 
ness of spirit contending earnestly for the faith and peace of Christ's 
Churches. 1 He then apostrophizes him in several lines of poetry, written in 
the style of the day, the last four verses of which I quote for the sake of 
the concluding sentiment. 

' Seven years compleat, twice told, thy work, hath bin, 

To feed Christ's floi'k, in desart land them keep, 
Both thou and they each day are kept by him : 

Safe maist thou watch, being watcht by him ne'er sleeps.' 
2 Hist. Coll. VII. 9. 



29 

blows against the arguments of* his adversary. A rare example 
of moderation in that, or in any age. 

Mr. Allin was, for several years, one of the largest landhold- 
ers in Dedham. His estates were acquired, partly by pur- 
chase, and partly by liberal grants made to him. Of these, 
several were from the Town.* On the 10th M ay, 1643, the 
General Court granted him two hundred acres, at a place, called 
Bogestow, on Charles River, now part of Medway. 

His salary, as appears from a Report of a committee appoint- 
ed by the General Court, to " inquire concerning the mainte- 
nance of ministers," in 1657, was sixty pounds. His family then 
consisted of seven persons, and the town had in it one hundred 
and sixty-six families. It is added, "Mr. Allin hath a good stock 
of cattle, and a good accommodation in corn land and mead- 
ow."! 

Of his cotemporaries and fellow laborers, some had left the 
stage before him, and others were soon to follow.J Several of 
them were far above the ordinary level, well endowed by nature, 
men of intelligence and sterling merit. A Lusher, a Fisher, and 
aDwight, the second, an ancestor of Fisher Ames, and the third 
of the late President Dwight, are deserving, among others, of 
grateful remembrance, not less for the influence they exerted in 
the affairs of the church, than for the services they rendered the 
town and colony, in other respects. They cherished the inter- 
ests of religion, and labored diligently to promote them. 

Indeed the place was fortunate in its first inhabitants. They 
had a difficult task to execute, but they proved themselves fully 
equal to its accomplishment. They labored faithfully, and with 
success under all the discouragements incident to the nature of 
their enterprise, and their exposed situation in the midst of a 
hostile wilderness. They had not, as we have seen, the advan- 



* See Note F. j 3, Hist. Coll. I, 50. 

JDea. Henry Chickering died about one month before Mr. Allin, at the 
age of 82, and Lieut. Joshua Fisher and Major Eliazer Lusher, the next 
year. Bea. Nathan Aldis survived them four years. Timothy Dwight lived 
till Jan. IT17-18, when he died at the age of 87, erroneously printed 83 in 
a note to Mr. Dexter's Sermon. Elder John Hunting died April 1"2, 1689, 
and the office was never again filled. 



30 

tage enjoyed by the founders of several of our towns, of previous 
acquaintance and intimacy. They came here mostly strangers 
to each other. They found themselves not as we, sheltered by 
convenient habitations, and surrounded by all the comforts, and 
many of the luxuries of civilized life. Their lowly dwellings 
were to be reared by their own hands, and with such rude art 
as they possessed. The forests were to be felled, and care was 
to be taken for the orderly management of their civil and relig- 
ious affairs, such as became the lovers of liberty, and the friends 
of piety and a sound morality. Their toils and cares were im- 
portant, but many of them humble ones, and they could hardly 
have been cheered by a foresight of one half their beautiful re- 
sults. Yet they were met and endured in a spirit of calm pa- 
tience and hope. The very name chosen to designate the infant 
settlement, to whatever objections it might be liable in point of 
taste, at least well illustrates the temper of the little band. They 
who were willing to inscribe on their banner the characteristic 
word, Contentment, must have possessed dispositions and feel- 
ings which might justly excite the envy of older and more wealthy 
communities. They toiled at the foundation, toiled often ob- 
scurely, yet contentedly, that they might lay a firm and broad 
basis, on which they who should come after might securely 
build. 

It is fit that we should hold such men in remembrance; that 
we should report their praises; that we should not suffer obliv- 
ion to creep over their names. It is fit that we should pause to 
brush away the dust which in the lapse of time is silently gath- 
ering over the record of their merits. 

Their remains are insensible to our homage ; their ashes slum- 
ber in yonder cemetery, and their spirits, as we trust, live with 
God. No tribute we can offer can affect them. But we owe it 
to ourselves, to a feeling of propriety and decorum, to testify our 
sensibility to their excellence. The sentiment which teaches us 
to cherish a tender respect for the memory of the dead is inti- 
mately associated with some of the most beautiful sympathies, 
and ingenuous feelings and affections of our nature. 

We would cultivate this sentiment. To this end let us nur- 
ture in our breasts a lively regard for worth which has passed 



31 

away. Let us honor the names of those who fixed their abode 
beside this placid stream, to whose toils the wilderness bowed, 
who labored that we might enter into their labors, who smoothed 
the path that we might walk in it. While we thus turn aside 
from the business, the cares, the cold formalities of the world, 
to render to their virtues the tribute which is their due, we are 
laying our hearts open to a healthful influence. While we scat- 
ter flowers over their graves, we shall go and profit by the mem- 
ory of their noble acts. 



SERMON II 



PSALM lxxx. 14, 15. 

RETURN, WE BESEECH THEE, O GOD OF HOSTS : LOOK DOWN 
FROM HEAVEN, AND BEHOLD, AND VISIT THIS VINE, AND THE 
VINEYARD WHICH THY RIGHT HAND HATH PLANTED. 

No doubt, during a portion of the time which is now to fall 
under review, this prayer was often uttered. In this language 
many an oppressed heart unburdened itself before the throne of 
the Most High, for the vine which he had transplanted here, 
and before which he had made room in the wilderness, so that 
it struck deep root, and grew and flourished, was now beginning 
to languish, and the vineyard was neglected, and the laborers 
who were called, came not, and the rebukes of the Lord God 
of Hosts were upon it. 

We are now entering on a barren period of our history. The 
original settlers had disappeared, or were fast vanishing, and 
the next generation were, in many respects, far their inferiors. 
It could hardly be otherwise. They had enjoyed few opportu- 
nities of intellectual culture. Such virtues as the wilderness 
could teach, they possessed. They had grown up amid circum- 
stances fitted to confer a sort of rough independence. They 
were specimens of what men born to their stern and rugged lot, 
subjected from infancy to all the adverse influences of a life in 
the wilds, must be. They were true of heart, doubtless, and 
faithful according to their means; the work Providence assigned 
them, they accomplished; but their annals are humble and ob- 
scure. 

5 



34 

If, however, the history of* the Plantation loses something of 
its interest from the absence of those under whose guiding influ- 
ence, its affairs had been hitherto so faithfully conducted, this 
is not the only circumstance to be deplored by one who attempts 
to construct a narrative of the ecclesiastical concerns of the 
Town. The destruction, or disappearance of records is an ag- 
gravating consideration. The mild light thus far shed over our 
path by the manuscripts of the first Pastor no longer cheers our 
passage, and we are only rendered the more sensible of the 
surrounding darkness from having before enjoyed it. There is 
now a chasm in the ministerial records tor a fittle more than 
half a century.* That such Records once existed is known, 
from the fact that they are quoted in the Sermon delivered from 
this place a century ago. But a fragment of a single leaf is all 
of them, which at this time, remains; nor is any thing known of 
their history. 

From this fragment we learn, that as early as the latter part 
of March, 1672, a little more than six months after Mr. Allin's 
death, Mr. William Adams had received a call to the Pastoral 
office. He at first declined. Mr. Charles Nicholet, a stranger 
recently from Maryland, and who had come over after the re- 
establishment of Episcopacy under Charles II, and whom one of 
the committee of the Dedham church had chanced to hear at 
the Thursday Lecture in Boston, was then invited to preach, 
and soon after, to settle. He consented, but said that he must 
first 20 with his wife to Salem for "a child and some things" 
which they had left there. Of course no objection could be 
urged against so reasonable a request. But Mr. Nicholet, it 
seems, had before won the hearts of the people of Salem, and 
was as much a favorite there as here, and they were resolved to 



* The Deacon's Book, which covers nearly the whole period, is still in 
existence, having been recently discovered and dragged from its lurking 
place where it had lain safely ensconsed for years. It is chiefly a book of 
accounts, though not altogether so. During the time the Town was with- 
out a Minister, it records some votes and proceedings of the church, from 
which [ have derived material aid. Portions of it are written in a blind, 
and all but unintelligible hand, equalled only by the wretchedness of the 
orthography. 



35 

take effectual means for retaining him. They managed the af- 
fair with some adroitness, and succeeded at last, as it appears, 
by female influence. "Both people and minister, men and wo- 
men," so says the fragmentary document, "so set upon him and 
his wife with great and incessant importunity, that they first 
overcame Mrs. Nicholet to be willing to live at Sahm, rather 
than at Dedham." The rest maybe foreseen. Mr. Nicholet, 
after some show of resistance, yields. "He was so far stag- 
gered in his resolution," continues my authority, "that he would 
put the case to a counsel of Elders." The Elders assemble. 
The committee of Dedham, appear before them, argue the ques- 
tion, urge Mr. Nicholet's promise to return to them, and make 
the best of their case. But in vain. The Elders decide 
that, as matters stood, it were better for them to release Mr. 
Nicholet, than to "force" him to fulfil his promise, and they 
were wise enough to acquiesce. Mr. Nicholet went to Salem, 
and after a stormy ministry of three or four years, left, and re- 
turned to England. 

The call to Mr. Adams was afterwards renewed and accept- 
ed, and his ordination took place the third of December, 1673.* 
From his receipts preserved in the Proprietor's books, and writ- 
ten in a small, fair, round hand, it appears that he received a 
salary of sixty pounds annually, eight pounds of which he relin- 
quished one year, on account of the expenses of the town incur- 
red during Philip's war. He also received a hundred pounds 
" towards procuring a place of habitation," as it is expressed. 
Some time after, the question of building him a house at the ex- 
pense of the town was agitated, though the project seems never 
to have been carried into execution. f 



* The Town, the whole of which was embraced in the Parochial See, or 
Charge, hail now shrunk somewhat in its dimensions, Medlieldand Wrent- 
hafti, originally within its limit'-', having been incorporated as separate 
Towns, the former in 1650—1 , and the latter in 167S. The ministerial 
Charge, now included, besides what constitutes the present Town of Ded- 
ham, Needham, Bellingham, Walpole, Dover, Natick, and part of Sher- 
burne, and continued the same till after the settlement of Mr, Belcher, the 
successor of Mr. Adams. 

| See Note G. 



36 

The Plantation had other expenses to meet. The war just 
alluded to could not be carried on without cost to the towns. A 
little before this time, too, the old thatebed meeting house, no 
doubt somewhat frail at first, besides being too small, was found 
to be in a ruinous condition, and needed to be replaced by a bet- 
ter. This call was promptly met by the inhabitants, who voting 
in their primitive way, by red and white corn, decided to erect 
a new fabric. This was in 1672, before Mr. Adams' settlement. 
It was left to the select men,* with a committee of three to be 
associated with them, to determine the dimensions and interior 
arrangements of the new house, and to make contracts relative 
to it. They decide to have "but three pair of stairs," one at 
the North, another at the East, and another at the South corners, 
the fore seat in the front gallery to be parted in the midst, and the 
rest to be open at both ends: the South gallery to be for men; the 
North to be appropriated to women and boys: the seats in the 
lower part of the house to be parted in the middle, by an aisle, 
the men to be ranged on one side, the women on the other. 

Thus the ancient house disappeared with the generation which, 
had erected it. It was a lowly edifice, but it differed not more 
from what we now see, than did the habits of its worshippers. 
They could patiently listen to a Sermon of an hour and a half, 
or two hours, and a prayer of one hour, and they could be edifi- 
ed by music extracted from the old New England Version of 
David's Psalms, which a modern ear would pronounce barbar- 
ous, and all this, not in a commodious fabric, well warmed by 
artificial heat, and cushioned, but seated on rough boards, and 
in a building through the gaping crevices of which all the winds 
of a New England winter found a ready admittance. How 
far our piety would bear this test, I leave to others to determine. 

The new meetinghouse was finished in 1673. It was furnish- 
ed with a bell, which, however, was not a luxury now enjoyed 
for the first time. Formerly indeed, the people assembled at 
beat of drum; but this custom had been long discontinued. I 
find no mention of it after the year 1646, when Ralph Day was 
allowed twenty shillings for " beating the drum at the meeting 
house for the time past, to be paid in cedar boards." As early 
as 1656, we hear of a bell, and when work was done on the high 



37 

way, it was rung, morning and noon, to summon the people to 
their task. Besides the person now appointed to "cause the 
bell to be sufficiently ringed on the Lord's day, and in season,' 1 
the select men agree with Nathaniel Heaton to " whip dogs out 
of the meeting house, and to go upon errands for the reverend 
Elders, referring to the church, and to take care of cushion and 
glass, till further order be taken, and for his pains herein, he is 
to retain of the Town ten shillings for one whole year." 

The old subject of seating persons in the meeting house now 
continually came up for discussion, and gave no small trouble, 
for some were not disposed to submit to the powers that were, 
and reason and argument were exhausted upon them in vain. 
The boys too occasioned further annoyance, and the law requir- 
ing that the select men should " take care for their orderly and 
suitable behavior in the house of God," and " for that end" that 
" meet seats" should be provided that they "may be watched 
over," four new seats were made, in the lower part of the house, 
one on the North side " against the end of the men's seats," and 
one before the men's seats in the middle row, and the other two 
in a corresponding position on the South side. Some years af- 
ter, they had " the short seats by the pulpit stairs in the South 
West part of the meeting house," assigned them. All this time 
it seems a little extraordinary that it did not occur to the wise 
heads of the day to allow families to be seated together, so that 
the younger part of them would he under the immediate inspec- 
tion of the older; but the very mention of such a project 
would probably, in the highest degree, have shocked their no- 
tions of propriety, for it was opposed to the prevailing sentiments 
and manners of the age. 

One circumstance shows that whatever may have been the 
character of the inhabitants, at this period, the population of the 
Town was increasing. The meeting house had not been long 
erected before additional accommodation was wanted, and ten 
years after it was first occupied, we hear of a design to construct 
new galleries.* 

* Another circumstance creditable to the Town deserves to be mention- 
ed. In a list of the contributions of the several Towns for the erection of 
the "New College," a little before Mr. Adam's sett tetueut, I fittd sixtV'Otie 



38 

4 

Mr. Adams enjoyed a brief ministry here of only twelve years. 
He died the 17th August, 1685. I have not been able to recov- 
er from oblivion any incidents of his life beyond those already 
mentioned, except that he was graduated at Harvard College in 
1671; and in 1674, a year after his ordination, was married to 
Mary Manning, and some time after her death, to Alice Brad- 
ford, in 1680; by the former of whom he had three children, and 
by the latter four. 

During his ministry Mr. Adams published two Sermons. The 
first was delivered the 21st Nov. 1678, on a day of General 
Fasting throughout the United Colonies on account of the ca- 
lamities in which they were involved. The country had just 
been exposed to all the horrors of Indian Warfare, the flames 
of which were but recently extinguished; the loss of the charter 
was threatened, and the times, in other respects, wore a sad as- 
pect. Under these circumstances a Fast was appointed, and 
the next year a Reforming Synod was convened at Boston to 
give counsel adapted to the state of the Colony. The Sermon 
of Mr. Adams was pertinent, and throws some light on the char- 
acter of the age. The subject, as announced on the title page, 
is "The necessity of the pouring out of the spirit from on High, 
on a sinning and apostatizing people, set under judgment;" and 
truly the Discourse furnishes a frightful catalogue of the sins 
and miseries of the day, " war, sickness, and other shakings," 
such is its language, God having grown "weary of repenting 
concerning us," refusing to hear our prayer, and leaving us "un- 
der a dispensation of judgment," our troubles growing "more ex- 
tensive, numerous, and general; and more intense, sharp, and 
piercing;" there being "little mourning for sin among us," — 
little of a "praying frame," our prayers being "too cold, dead, 
formal, lifeless, insipid and wordy only," men and women re- 
maining "heart whole," so that if a reform did not take place, 
"New England's ruin" would be the consequence.* The Dis- 

pounds and twelve shillings set down to Dedham. This was a large sum 
for the period. Only six Towns contributed more. Roxhury gave short 
of thirty-eight, find Concord hut little over thirty three pound-. 

* The result of the Synod gives a similar account of the sins of the times, 
though Hutchinson says that there is no evidence of any extraordinary de- 
generacy at the period referred to. Vol. 1, p. 292. 



39 

course breathes throughout a serious, devout, and at fervent spir- 
it. It is eminently practical, and though in the quaint manner 
of the day, is written in a clear and correct style. The lan- 
guage is pure Saxon English, and has at times much force and 
vigor, though plain and unadorned. The performance, as a 
whole, is certainly creditable to the author. The same may be 
said of the other, which was an Election Sermon, delivered May 
27, 1685, a few months only before the author's death. If we 
may rely on the statements contained in this Discourse, the 
times certainly had not much mended since the delivery of the 
former. How much allowance is to be made for rhetorical ex- 
aggeration, I can not tell. I can only say, that for the credit of 
the land of the pilgrims, I hope some deduction is to be made on 
this score. 

The Discourse though reputable for ability is a very long 
one: the text is opened and the doctrine stated in five proposi- 
tions, or "conclusions," as they are called, then come the use, 
application, and the needful exhortations to rulers, clergy, 
and people. Among the errors and sins of the times, are men- 
tioned neglect of the "Discipline of Christ and his churches," or 
only such attention to them as accorded with the "humors, af- 
fections, interests or relations of some men;" — "woful conten- 
tions in many churches;" — " dissentions, heart burnings, coun- 
teractings in courts and civil assemblies;" — "jealousies, re- 
proaches, slanders, alienations of spirit, in churches and other 
societies, and between rulers and people." "We have borne 
too high a sail," says the writer: "there hath been an affecta- 
tion of gallantry unbecoming our condition" — too great delicacy 
of living;" — "some with hearts lifted up above their brethren" — 
"too high to bear the execution of some good laws" — "family 
government and order in a great measure lost in New Eng- 
land;" and finally "the form of religion, to many lifted up there- 
with, is (as one speaks) a Buff Coat to their sins, to turn the 
sharpest reproofs that can be levelled against them." Hence 
calamities, frowns of Providence, sickness, pestilence, and the 
whole catalogue of human ills. 

In a Preface to the first of these Sermons, by Mr. Samuel 
Torrey of Weymouth, and Josiah Flynt of Dorchester, father of 



40 

the celebrated Tutor Flynt, the writers speak of Mr. Adams as 
peculiarly fitted to promote the work of reformation so much 
needed, in this " more happy than most of his fellow servants," 
being himself" coetaneous with, and among the choicest of the 
first ripe fruits of this young generation." This was the new 
generation which had sprung up on the soil, and he had been 
born, and grown up in the midst of it. No doubt this circum- 
stance was in his favor, and altogether, there is reason to think, 
that the Town possessed in Mr. Adams a worthy Pastor, who 
only wanted a longer ministry in order to hold an eminent rank 
among his cotemporaries and brethren, according to the stand- 
ard of the age. He had as much theological learning, 1 sup- 
pose, as was possessed by most of the New England clergy of 
the day. In a book afterwards used for the Parish Records, 
and still preserved, he began, a little more than two years be- 
fore his death, an exposition of the first Epistle of Paul to Tim- 
othy, which he did not live to finish. His commentary is ex- 
ceedingly elaborate and minute, and though it proceeds no fur- 
ther than the tenth verse of the first chapter, covers sixty-three 
quarto pages, in Mr. Adams peculiarly small and compact hand. 

The Town was now without a Pastor for about eight years. 
The aspect of things here was not encouraging; at least, there 
were some circumstances of a disheartening nature, which seem- 
ed, in the opinion of several whom the people were desirous to 
obtain, to preclude the hope of a peaceful and happy ministry, 
and they declined coming, and truly the vineyard mourned. Mr. 
Bowles first received a call, January, 1685, the inhabitants vot- 
ing together, without distinction of communicants, and non-com- 
municants, it being decided in a general meeting, that " the 
church and Town will act together as one," the church taking no 
separate vote. To this measure no one objected, the church 
members present acquiescing.* 

Mr. Samuel Lee was afterwards invited, by a separate act of 
the church and Town. In tbeir vote and subsequent request to 
him to come and settle with them, they pathetically bewail the 
miseries which had fallen upon them. They speak of their 



* See Note H. 



41 

11 low estate by reason of their long continued vacancy and emp- 
tiness for want of a settled ministry;" they add, "our earnest 
and humble request to you is, that you may be pleased to con- 
sider of our sad, languishing state under our long bereavement, 
and we hope that you will in your wisdom consider our weakness, 
and make it an argument of pity, and we earnestly desire that 
you will consider this place as a field white to the harvest."* 

The application, however, was unsuccessful. In 1687, a sim- 
ilar invitation from the congregation, the church subsequently 
concurring, was declined by Mr. Jonathan Pierpont, on the 
ground, as he says in his answer, " of the present circumstances 
of things with yourselves, and those discouragements which 
yourselves are not ignorant of, together with the probable un- 
comfortableness which might accrue to yourselves and to the 
person desired." 

Mr. John Rogers of Ipswich, and Mr. Nathaniel Clap, the 
younger, the latter after three calls, gave a negative to a re- 
quest to " come, and live, and labor here," in the office of the 
christian ministry. I believe, that one or more other calls were 
given during this interval, but whether this was the case or not, 
is of too little consequence *o make it worth while to pore longer 
over the terrible records of the period. 

The prospect now certainly looked dark. The people thus 
repeatedly disappointed, deeply deplored their desolate condi- 
tion, it being " as unnatural," says the suthor of the Wonder- 
Working Providence, " for a right New England man to live 
without an able ministry, as for a smith to work his iron without 
fire." But light was soon to break out of darkness. On the 
23d May, 1692, we find, that Mr. Joseph Belcher had already 
received a call from the church and Town, and the select men 
are deputed to urge him to accept, and not delay his coming to 
live in the place. As an encouragement, the people offer him 
sixty pounds towards providing him a habitation, and he is to 
receive an annual salary of the same amount, subsequently in- 
creased to one hundred pounds. Wood to the value of ten 
pounds, at five shillings a cord, was afterwards added; or the 
amount was paid him in money. 



* See Note I. 



Mr. Belcher* was ordained Nov. 29, 1693. During his min- 
istry a change was introduced in the mode of collecting the min- 
isterial rate, which, as it illustrates the revolutionary process 
which was silently going on in men's opinions, I will proceed 
briefly to state. For some time past the amount to be raised 
was apportioned in the same manner as the Provincial, or as they 
were called, country rates. The inhabitants, from sabbath to 
sabbath, then put into a box prepared for the purpose, such 
sums as might be convenient, enclosed in a paper containing the 
name of the contributor, and whatever was not thus enclosed in 
a wrapper was considered as a donation. On examining the 
box, the Deacons, who had custody of the money, marked 
against every man's name the sum he had from time to time 
contributed, in the book to which we have already referred, and 
which forms a somewhat curious relic of the times. 

Such continued to be the usage of the Town at the time of 
Mr. Belcher's settlement. No compulsory process, I believe, 
had as yet been resorted to. Occasionally there was found to 
be a deficiency at the end of the year. So early as the last year 
of Mr. Allin's ministry, mention occurs of some arrears, which 
were due to him, and the next year, 1672, the Deacons inform 
the select men of some " shortness in the coining in of the mon- 
cy" for the Pastor, and John Aldis is chosen to assist them in 
collecting the needed sum of the " several inhabitants according 
to their rates." For this purpose reasoning and remonstrance, 
and occasionally an " exhortation," in which the subject was 
"handled out of scripture," were the only weapons employed, 
and these in the main, had proved sufficient. 

One exception to this mode now occurs, under circumstances 
which, as I think, clearly show that the amount necessary to 
the support of public worship was not paid into the Deacon's 
treasury without many and growing murmurs. At the annual 
March meeting in 1695-6, as the Records inform us, Mr. Belch- 
er makes a proposition to the inhabitants, that if they will pay 
his salary for the coming quarter, he will accept a voluntary 

* The name is printed erroneously, Bachelor, in the Collections of the 
Ma^s, Hist. Soc. vol. ix. p. 195, first Series. The same error occurs in the 
General Index, vol. x, p. ~33. 



43 

contribution for the remaining three quarters of the year. At the 
next annual meeting, he professes himself satisfied with what 
had been done for him, and it is agreed to try the experiment 
another year. But the result was not such as to induce a wish 
to continue it, and the subsequent year the Town returns to the 
old method, that of voluntary contribution being abandoned not 
to be revived. But times had changed; the mode successful in 
former years, now proves ineffectual, and it is found necessary 
to adopt the compulsory process. In November, 1704, a vote is 
passed making it the duty of the select men, after fixing the 
rates, to prepare two lists, one to be presented to the Deacons, 
that they might receive them either in the box, as before men- 
tioned, or in private, if any chose so to pay, and the other to be 
handed over to the constables, who were required to collect im- 
mediately at the expiration of the year, (the 14th of February 
was subsequently adopted,) all such sums as were reported by 
the Deacons as not paid. 

At the same time, ample indulgence was granted to those, 
who found it convenient to worship elsewhere, they having lib- 
erty to pay their rates where they worshipped, but if they did 
not pay elsewhere, they were compelled to pay here. A vote 
to this effect was passed the 4th of March, 1700, and the princi- 
ple recognized in it, was afterwards adhered to, occasionally, 
however, modified in practice by the votes of the Town. By a 
vote passed in 1706, the select men were authorised to grant 
permission, for the time being, for persons to worship elsewhere, 
such persons being released from obligation to pay here. 

Another subject to which the attention of the Town was fre- 
quently called, during the period under review, was the condi- 
tion of the meeting house. In J 695, it was voted to erect galle- 
ries "over the other galleries." The next year, mention is 
made of erecting a single seat over the galleries " as near the 
roof as may be convenient." This may have been all that was 
meant by the upper galleries. The seat over the women's gal- 
lery was for " young women and maids to sit in." The expense 
of these additions, as also of some necessary repairs on the 
" outside covering, and the platform above," was voluntarily 
shared, as had been the original expense of erecting the house, 



44 

by the neighboring; people of Roxbury, who worshipped here, 
and whose liberality is often noticed in the Records. 

Still, however, room continued to be wanted, and in Novem- 
ber, 1700, the Town passed a resolve to enlarge the meeting 
house by an addition of from twelve to fourteen feet on the West 
side, and for this purpose they make a grant of thirty pounds, to 
be paid in money, labor, or grain, wheat being then at five shil- 
lings a bushel, rye at four, Indian corn at three, and labor at 
two shillings a day. 

About two years after this, we for the first time hear of pews, 
a vote being passed allowing such persons as a committee cho- 
sen for the purpose should approve, to erect them at their own 
expense, " on the sides of the meeting house below that were 
without seats." Other alterations were, at the same time, made, 
which it is unnecessary to describe. 

From a Preface, by Dr. Increase Mather, to the last publish- 
ed Sermon of Mr. Belcher, preached at an ordination in Bristol, 
the 30th August, 1721, it appears that between that time, and 
the 28th December, the date of the Preface, Mr. Belcher had a 
dangerous attack of paralysis. Some months after, the Town 
meet to " consider and do what they see meet to procure him 
help in his weakness," and they vote to take a contribution eve- 
ry Sunday for two months, the time being subsequently extend- 
ed, and a committee chosen to supply the pulpit. He died at 
Roxbury, the 27th April, 1723, and was brought to Dedham for 
burial, with such observance, as respect and affection dictated, 
and the usage of the day required.* 

Of Mr. Belcher's personal history scarcely any thing is known. 
He belonged, as I conjecture, to the Braintree family, then nu- 
merous, and was graduated at Harvard University in 1690. He 
had daughters married in town, but few of his descendants now 
remain among us. An unmarried son lived some years with a 
niece in the West Parish, specimens of whose eccentric wit and 
humor are still handed down in the traditions of the place. I 



* The 'um of two pounds anil four shillings was paid to Lieut. Joshua 
Fisher, " for entertaining men and their horses, that came" to the funeral, 
and eiiiht years after, the Town voted to allow " Madam Belcher'' forty 
pounds for expenses to which she had been subjected on the same oc.asion. 



45 

suppose " Sir" Belcher, whose name frequently occurs in the 
records, to have been a brother. 

Mr. Belcher lived, says his immediate successor, " much de- 
sired, and died greatly lamented in the 53d year of his age, and 
30th of his ministry." Cotton Mather, who had contributed a 
complimentary Preface to his first printed Sermon, now paid a 
tribute to his memory in a Discourse preached at a Lecture in 
Boston, May 2d, 1723, and afterwards published. If we may 
trust the author of this Sermon, and I see no reason in the pres- 
ent case to doubt his fidelity, Mr. Belcher ranked high in the es- 
timation of those who best knew him. The Discourse is entitled, 
" A Good Character, or a Walk with God Illustrated, with some 
Dues paid to the Memory of the Late Rev. and Excellent Pas- 
tor of Dedham." "We have had," says the writer, "an ex- 
cellent Preacher to walk with God, who was an excellent Pattern 
of what he preached to us, — who lived what he spoke, and did 
what he taught," — "he was one of that holy set, that so lessons 
every day among us." — Among his virtues enumerated, we find 
prudent speech, by which he avoided what according to a "com- 
putation of the ancients makes half the sins of our lives," his rule 
being to say nothing of those of whom "there was not much 
good to be spoken," that he might not be tempted to speak evil. 
" A gentlemanly temper and carriage, with a certain sweetness 
of disposition," added lustre to his other virtues. 

As a Preacher he was, as Mather informs us, "greatly ad- 
mired and followed — he fed us, not with jejune and stolen ser- 
mons, but with well studied composures." He was modest and re- 
tiring, declining to appear on occasions of publicity, unless when 
compelled to it. As a Pastor he "faithfully" and "painfully 
fed the whole flock," by an act of self denial, says the same au- 
thority, adhering to them, though "under strong temptation to 
have embraced greater opportunities." Against a shepherd of so 
much goodness, he continues, "it would seem impossible that any 
mouth should open. If any did, his worst word upon it was, "Fath- 
er forgive them." Much more is added, and in a tone of friendly 
eulogy, which would seem to prove the writer, in this case at 
least, to have been sincere. The character is evidently drawn 
by the hand of affection, and though in point of execution, it par- 



46 

takes of the usual faults of Mather's style, there can be little 
doubt, I think, that tbe main features are correctly given. 

Mr. Belcher's printed Sermons,* possess different degrees of 
merit. They are all, however, written in a devout spirit, and 
though like those of his predecessor, a little quaint at times, are 
marked by good sense and vigorous thought. 

But the most curious document, connected with Mr. Belcher, 
I have met with, is a manuscript volume containing a sort of Dia- 
ry, and particularly an enumeration of the presents brought him 
by his Parishioners, not omitting those of the most trifling value. 
Strange things are here sometimes brought into juxta-position. 
The whole, however, shows a people of primitive habits, strong- 
ly attached to their Pastor, and presenting him such little offer- 
ings as they could, if greater were not in their power. 

I know not on what authority a Letter said to have been found 
in his study after his death, and subsequently printed and circu- 
lated on a loose sheet, on the question, "how to live in this 
world, so as to live in heaven," is attributed to him. It contains 
some quite graphic touches, especially in several allusions of a 
personal nature relative to the author's temper, feelings, and 
general views of life, portraying a character of somewhat retir- 
ing habits, of great thoughtfulness and tranquillity, and of a filial 
and trusting piety; and if Mr. Belcher was the writer, it is a 
worthy relic of a worthy man, in a few vigorous and rapid lines 
conveying to us more knowledge of his real character, than 
Mather would have furnished in as many pages. 

This account of Mr. Belcher and the religious affairs of the 
Town, during his ministry is meager enough, but the documents 
in my possession do not enable me to present a different or more 
extended one. If in the use of some of the materials afforded 
me, and out of which I have constructed this and other portions 
of my narrative, I may be thought to have descended too much 
to particulars, I can only say in explanation, that a degree of 
minuteness, when I could command it, seemed to me to comport 
with the object I had in view: that statements of the kind allud- 
ed to, partaking somewhat of the nature of Parochial statistics, 



* See Note K. 



47 

have their use as throwing light on the history of the age, help- 
ing to body forth its manners and habits of thought. Besides, a 
a degree of minuteness is not out of place in local histories, like 
that in which I am at present engaged, and from these, general 
history must derive some of its best materials. 

The Ecclesiastical history of New England is yet to be writ- 
ten, and if it is ever executed in a style worthy of the subject, 
it can only be by the aid of authentic details of the religious af- 
fairs of Towns and Parishes. 

As I stated, at the commencement of my labors, my object is 
not so much to give a discourse, as a history, embracing such in- 
cidents and biographical notices as may seem appropriate and use- 
ful, and worth rescuing from the dust and oblivion to which they 
are hastening. If by any care of mine, I shall contribute to 
their preservation, I shall feel that my labors among blind man- 
uscripts and rusty and obscure relics, are sufficiently rewarded. 
Nor is the toil itself without alleviation and pleasure. It is no 
unmeet task in the few leisure moments, which can be snatched 
from professional duties, to retire into the past, to cull its treas- 
ures, and 

"If studious, copy fair what time hath blurr'd; 

Redeem truth from his jaws." 



SERMON III. 



PSALSM lxxviii, 7. 
THAT THEY MIGHT SET THEIR HOPE IN GOD. 

A little more than three months after the death of Mr. Belch- 
er, under date July 6th, 1723, it stands recorded in the manu- 
script Diary of a then obscure young man, of great modesty and 
diffidence — " Went to Dedham to preach," — and making up his 
journal the next day he writes, — " was somewhat dashed and 
confused in morning prayer." As this young man is to occupy 
some space in these brief notices of the past, as he left here an 
honored memory, and bore a name since not unknown to fame, it 
may be gratifying, before we proceed with our narrative, espe- 
cially as we possess so authentic a source of information as his 
own private journal, to go back a little, and gather up a few in- 
cidents connected with his personal history previously to the 
above mentioned date. 

The young preacher was a native of Maiden. He was born 
on the 23d October, 1700, and descended from that worthy old 
stock of New England yeomanry, to whose substantial virtues 
their country has been indebted from the first, for a full propor- 
tion of its prosperity and honors. He joined the church irt his 
native place at the age of twenty, and a short time after, July 
1720, received his first degree at Harvard University, after 
which he taught school six months in Taunton, then, to be near- 
er his friends, in -Lynn, where he remained one year. He then 
returned to Maiden, engaged in a short school there, after which 



50 

he devoted his time to a more special preparation for the minis- 
try He preached for the first time the 15th October, 1722. 

Next spring he received an invitation to scttlo at Brimfield, 
which he declined, afterwards one at Medford, and another at 
Westborough, to both of which he gave a negative. 

Under great depression of spirits, and suffering from ill health, 
he for a time refuses to preach at Charlestown, not being able to 
summon courage to appear in such a congregation. " It is," 
says he, "contrary to my disposition. I abundantly rather 
choose retiredness, and if I might be my own carver, an assem- 
bly in the country, though it were but small, would more gratify 
me." A second call at Medford was afterwards received, and 
by the advice of Mr. Colman, Wadsworth and others, declined, the 
fourth which had been extended to him within a year, much to 
his own surprise. " It is a great wonder to me," he says, 
" that people do in any way like my performances — they are so 
mean and poor — I am less than the least of the candidates for 
the ministry, yet the Lord does so smile upon me." 

His desponding temper and disposition to take gloomy views 
of things, appears, at this time, to have been known to himself, 
and to have been vigorously combatted. He speaks of being 
very melancholy and discouraged, and adds, " This is so much 
my natural disposition, that it makes my life very weary. O, 
that God would dissipate the dark clouds, and alter my temper 
to an easy, quiet, submissive, and circumspect disposition." 

This young man, thus timid and shrinking, often laboring un- 
der a nervous depression of spirits, with a humility which was 
proof against flattery, and a piety bordering on asceticism, was 
Samuel Dexter. 

He was now about to settle at Yarmouth, but having, Oct. 14, 
1723, received a call here, the Town offering him a salary of 
one hundred pounds, and a hundred and fifty as an outfit, he 
yielded the preference to Dcdham, though it was long before he 
could summon resolution to reply to its invitation. " My fears'" 
says he, "do multiply on me," and when, six weeks after, a 
committee called on him and requested his answer, he was per- 
plexed, and says, he "put them off for that time." His answer, 
however, which is an exceedingly well written document, and 



51 

full of the right spirit, bearing date Maiden, Dec. 6, was at 
length sent, and on the 15th, was communicated. His trials 
were now augmented. The next day, says he, being at Ded- 
ham, "several of my friends came in to see me, and one Rab- 
ehakeh to revile me." He is depressed, discouraged, dismayed, 
tempted to give up and quit the ministry forever. However, he 
persevered, and his ordination took place on the 6th of May, 
1724.* 

Those who are acquainted by tradition, or otherwise, with the 
circumstances under which he entered on the ministry in this 
place, and the feelings manifested by some few, in regard to the 
proceedings relative to his call, may readily imagine, that to one 
possessing his peculiar temperament, the position he occupied 
here, could not for some time, at least, have been of the most 
pleasing character. In fact, the earlier part of his ministry was 
somewhat tempestuous. 

Before we proceed to recount his troubles, however, we must 
mention a felicity he now enjoyed. In speaking of the events 
which had happened to him during the year, he says, under date, 
23d October, 1724, a little more than five months after his set- 
tlement, " I have been ordained Pastor of a church, and I have 
married a wife. The lines have fallen to me in a pleasant place 
for situation, though the people are not so easy and agreeable 
as might be wished for, but they are better than I deserve, and 
my companion is a kind, tender, and virtuous person. I hope I 
have in her that good thing which is from the Lord." So she 
proved. She survived her husband, Mr. Dexter, almost half a 
century. Sometime after his death, she married Samuel Bar- 
nard, Esq. of Salem, after whose decease she returned to finish 
her days in Dedham, where she continued to be universally be- 
loved and respected, and enjoyed a tranquil and happy old age. 
She died on the 10th of June, 1797, having nearly completed her 
ninety-fifth year.f 



* Erroneously stated 1723, in Mass. Hist. Coll. first series vol.ix, p. 196. 
The limits of the Town, Spe, or Parish, had now become still further con- 
tracted. Needhaui and Bellingbam had been incorporated during Mr. 
Belcher's ministry. Walpole was incorporated Dec. 1724, a few months' 
after Mr. Dextcr's ordination. 

| See Note L. 



52 

The difiiculUes which rent the church and town for so«ne 
years after Mr. Dextcr's induction into office, were, very few of 
them, I believe, of a personal nature, though some of them, per- 
haps, might have been. In his journal under date of Feb. 13, 
1724 — 5, the winter subsequent to his ordination, he speaks of 
the trouble given him by "unreasonable men," unreasonable, 
he says, he thinks he may "without any breach of charity" term 
them. "Their actions are so extraordinary," he says, "that 
they seem to be under a hellish impetus, when all the while they 
charge it upon conscience." The church records, of the same 
period, give evidence of a highly excited state of feeling on the 
part of some dissatisfied members, and after fruitless attempts at 
conciliation, a council was convened on the 14th of June, 1725, 
which censured the diaffected brethren for irregular withdraw- 
ing from the communion, and indulging in illiberal and unjust 
reflections on the other members of the church. After this, 
there was for a short time an apparent calm, but the fire was 
still smouldering under the ashes, and soon again burst forth. 

It is not my intention to pursue the history of these bicker- 
ings, over which it were well that the curtain of oblivion should 
be forever drawn. Nor shall I attempt to decide on whom the 
folly and guilt of these, and of others which followed, rested. 
That Mr. Dexter was not always prudent, is very possible. 
When on a certain occasion he announced to his congregation, 
that the ministers of tho association had agreed to hold fasts in 
rotation in their several Parishes, and that the second would be 
holden in Dedham, he observes that "none publicly objected," 
though one had been heard to say previously, that the "minis- 
ters were going to deprive the churches of their power." But 
when the day came, some were absent from the exercises, con- 
tinuing about their usual business. This they had certainly a 
right to do, but the Pastor made a serious matter of it, and on 
the next Sunday proceeded to reprehend them. This was cer- 
tainly indiscreet. It of course irritated them, aud called forth 
many severe remarks. 

Whether it was in reference to the controversy growing out 
of this circumstance, or something else, that some very strong 
expressions which occur in the Journal, were penned, I cannot 



53 

say. It is quite certain that the distentions in the place, in what- 
ever source they originated, weighed heavily on the spirits of 
the young Pastor. He was in the habit of frequently observing 
days of private fasting and prayer, on which he practised rigid 
self scrutiny, for he was always a most severe judge of himself. 
The topics previously marked out to be made subjects of prayer 
on these days, are in many instances recorded, and among the 
rest we find the "shocking troubles" he met with, by "reason 
of the difficulties which prevailed in the church and town." 
These form the burden of many a heavy line, altogether pre- 
senting so sad a picture of the religious and social condition of 
the community, that our only marvel is, not that his feelings 
were not always calm, but, if there be no exaggeration in the 
case, how life passed in such a state of ferment could have been 
endurable. 

In addition to other causes of excitement, the desire, very 
reasonable in itself, of several inhabitants living in the southerly 
and westerly parts of the town, to be allowed to form themselves 
into a separate precinct, occasioned, for a time, no little pertur- 
bation of feeling. Several projects were brought forward 
and one after another rejected. One was, for two ministers to 
be supported at the charge of the town; another to remove the 
meeting house to a point more central; or to erect a new one so 
situated that it would accommodate the whole town with the ex- 
ception of Springfield Corner, now Dover, propositions which 
were repeatedly renewed, but always without success. The 
General Court was petitioned for permission to form a distinct 
precinct, but the town remonstrated against the petition. In this 
train affairs proceeded for some years, the town for one year 
only, employing a second minister to preach in the southerly 
part of it. An act of incorporation for the south Parish, then in- 
cluding the west, being obtained in 1730, at length gave hope of 
a speedy termination of a very unpleasant controversy. The 
quietj of the old Precinct, however, was again for a short time 
disturbed by the movements attending the formation of the West 
Parish, and the controversy still lingered in the church, that 
body for some time refusing to dismiss its members to form a 



54 

new church by its side. It finally submitted to a necessity it 
could not control ; and the waters of strife subsided. 

Henceforward, the stream of our narrative is to flow in a nar- 
rower channel. The affairs of the first, or Old Parish, and not 
those of the town, are to engage our attention. 

The first meeting of the Parish, as a separate precinct, was 
holden by virtue of a justice's warrant, the 4th of January, 
1730 — 1. The subject of the pastor's salary soon came up for 
discussion, and, no doubt, in consequence of the fluctuation of 
the circulating medium, presented a question of some real diffi- 
culty, which was constantly recurring through the whole of Mr. 
Dexter's ministry. Unquestionably, he at times suffered greatly 
from the depreciation of the currency. To this subject I find no 
allusion in his private Diary, or in the records of the church 
kept by him: not a murmur or discontented expression is left on 
record by him: all the information we possess on the subject is 
derived from the Parish books. From these it appears, that he, 
for some years, continued to receive of the Parish the hundred 
pounds originally agreed upon, the church, however, in addi- 
tion, voting, about a year after his settlement, May 18th, 1725, 
to "appropriate the profits of the lands commonly known as 
Parsonage" to his use, "during the term of his continuance in 
office among them." In 1734, fifty pounds were added to his 
salary, which was continued for some years. I suppose it may 
be taken as evidence of his straitened circumstances, that in 
1737, a bill of five pounds was granted him for "keeping the 
meeting house" the past year, and a bill for a similar, and finally 
for a larger amount, was allowed him for many years, sometimes 
in the form above expressed, for "keeping," or "taking care of 
the meeting house," and sometimes for " his negro's taking 
care" of it, ringing the bell, and at last, performing the whole 
duty of Sexton. 

In March 1738-9, in consequence of his representations of the 
rise of provisions and depreciation of the currency, ten pounds, 
new tenor, were added to the one hundred and fifty, old tenor, 
of which he was at that time in the receipt. For some years af- 
ter, the yearly sum granted him was voted sometimes in bills of 
the new, and sometimes of the old tenor; thus sixty pounds, new 



55 

tenor, one year, and a hundred and fifty, old tenor, the next, 
with thirty for providing wood from the church lot-; then fifty 
pounds, lawful money. A committee was then appointed to " in- 
quire respecting the fall of paper money," since the time of his 
settlement, for the purpose of ascertaining, whether according 
to the ** original contract" he had any unsatisfied claims on the 
Parish. His salary was then raised to sixty pounds, new tenor, 
and during the years 1745 and 1746, quarterly contributions 
for him were taken by vote of the Parish, " on account," as it 
is expressed, " of the fall of paper money." These contribu- 
tions were afterwards repeated; questions of currency were dis- 
cussed annually at the Parish meetings; committees of finance, 
if we may use so dignified a term in this connection, were ap- 
pointed, and both Pastor and Parish were subjected to no little 
trouble and inconvenience. Mr. Dexter's salary at the time of 
his death, I believe, was eighty pounds, lawful money, and 
wood, and the use of the parsonage lands in addition. 

During the period now under review, I have been able to 
gather from old records but few materials of pleasing reflection. 
Nor have I much to add. The meeting house, from time to 
time underwent various repairs in its several parts, being as I 
should think from the incidental notices, and description given of 
it in the Records, in a much dilapidated state. Near the close 
of Mr Dexter's ministry pews began to be erected to some ex- 
tent, by permission of the Parish, on condition that when to be 
sold the first offer of them should be made to the society. Two 
new bells were procured within twelve years ; the Deacon's 
wives, by vote of the Parish, were seated in front of the second 
pew on the South side of the meeting house; and the boys were 
kept in order, sometimes by a person paid for the purpose, and 
sometimes by a voluntary association of persons, who agreed to 
watch them in rotation a certain number of sabbaths in the year. 

The first notice of Episcopalianism I have met with in the 
Records, occurs under date 8th March, 1734, when Joseph 
Smith, Noah Kingsbury, Joseph Aspenwall, John Downe, Ben- 
jamin Holden, and Peter Violas, had their ministerial taxes re- 
mitted on the ground that they carried on the worship of God 
" in the way of the established church of England;" they sub- 



56 

sequently exhibiting a certificate of the fact, signed by Dr. Cut- 
ler of Boston. This was eight years before the passage of the 
law making it the duty of Towns and Parishes to allow the taxes 
of such as attended worship in an Episcopal church, to go to the 
support of the minister on whose instructions they attended. 

In the Records of the church and Parish I find no direct allu- 
sion to the excitements on the subject of religion, produced by 
the itinerant preaching of the wild and erratic Whitfield, during 
his second visit to this country. In his private journal, Mr. 
Dexter, under date of 1740, speaks of having, he does not say 
where, heard him with great delight, and he hoped with benefit, 
and the church book without specifying a cause for any extraor- 
dinary attention to religion, records an unusual number of ad- 
missions into the church in December and January, of the years 
1741 and 1742. On the 4th March, 1742, the church observes a 
day of fasting and prayer, and renews its covenant. On the 7th 
of the same month a vote is passed, dispensing with a relation 
of christian experiences on the part of persons becoming mem- 
bers of the church, provided the party satisfies the Pastor, and 
any of the brethren, who may choose to call, in private, and as- 
sents, in public, to the received confession of faith and form of 
covenant. 

Mr. Dexter's private Journal ceases with December 5th, 1752, 
under which date he records the death of his mother, Winnifred 
Dexter, at the age of seventy-nine. Her maiden name was 
Sprague. He survived her a little more than two years. He 
died after a short illness, the 29th January, 1755, in the fifty- 
fifth year of his age, and thirtieth of his ministry. His death is 
recorded in the church book, with a simple and affectionate eu- 
logium, more honorable than all the pomp of sculptured pane- 
gyric. He died as he had lived, enjoying the general respect 
and confidence of his people and of the public. 

His peculiar sensitiveness, as we have seen, caused his feel- 
ings to be keenly affected by the opposition, which he encoun- 
tered during the earlier portion of his ministry. But the disaf- 
fected persons being found chiefly among that portion of his flock, 
who afterwards constituted the West Parish, when that was in- 
corporated, calmer days appeared. His disposition was pacific, 



57 

and nothing seems afterwards to have occurred to deprive him 
of the sweets of harmony and affection so desirable both to Pas- 
tor and people. 

Mr. Dexter's Sermons were written in a serious and practical 
style, without any attempt at ornament or fine writing. He had 
little imagination, or eloquence; he addressed chiefly the un- 
derstanding, but there was a warmth, a fervor, a truth in his 
piety, which, united with good sense, so pervaded all his per- 
formances, that while the intellect was awakened, the heart 
could hardly remain cold and insensible. 

I am not aware that he published more than two Sermons, 
one, in 1728, on the death, by casualty, of an esteemed young 
man in his Parish,* and the other his Century Discourse, ten 
years after. This, which was printed soon after its delivery, 
and went through a second edition in 1796, is too well known to 
require analysis. As a historical document, it is not of great 
value, not more than half a dozen pages out of fifty-four, besides 
a short Appendix, having any special reference to the Town, or 
to its history, civil or religious. Near its commencement the 
author says that " his acquaintance either by private records or 
particular traditional accounts, with the special circumstances 
of the original and progress" of the town and church, was not 
such as to furnish him with materials of a history. 

Yet many sources of information must have been open to him, 
to which we have not access; important written documents ex- 
isted, which are not now to be found ; and many an old tradition 
might have been gathered from living lips, which has now long 
since perished. It is to be regretted that some portion of the 
information, which might have been gathered from these sources, 
had not been arrested in its passage to oblivion, that something 
might have been added to our present scanty stock of knowl- 
edge. 

* "A Call from the T)e;ul (o the Living. In a Sermon on occasion of 
the early and surprising, though comfortable death of Mr, Timothy Met- 
calf, a very hopeful young man, who received his death wound on Satur- 
day, Aug. 12,1727, and exchanged, a? we frjisi, earth for Heaven on 
Monday following, aged 19. By Samuel Dexter, M. A. Pastor of the 
Church in Dedham. Boston; 1728." The wound was inflicted by a fall 
"upon the tine of a fork. 1 ' 

8 



58 

I have not the means of portraying in their minuter shades, 
the character and condition of the Parish as it was at that time. 
In its territorial limits, it was much the same as now, except in 
name, for though Dover and Natick, or a part of it, still in some 
sort adhered to it, the connexion was \ery loose. Those living 
at the distance of five miles and more, had, by vote of the Par- 
ish, been discharged from paying "head money," as it was 
called, and several, bringing certificates from the Rev. Oliver 
Peabody, who had a church at Natick, composed partly of Eng- 
lish, and partly of Indians, were absolved from obligation to pay 
ministerial rates here. 

Here stood the old Church, with its double row of galleries, 
a raised Platform with seats along the North and South walls, 
the floor also occupied with seats, two or three pews only being 
erected at the sides. A cupola, or rude turret, written in the 
record, ierrit, rose from the centre, surmounted, not by a high 
steeple, but by a short pole, or staff, as it appeared to the 
eye, serving merely to support a vane. The bell was rung by 
a person standing in the body seats in the central part of the 
house below. There was no ceiling above, nor were the sides 
plastered, and the whole interior appeared thickly studded with 
spars. 

Four persons occupied the Deacon's seat, there being so 
many then in office. The remainder of the assembly took the 
places assigned them by the Parochial authorities. The Psalm 
from the Old New England Version was sung after the manner 
of the day, one of the Deacon's leading. The village about the 
meeting house had not then risen, the people living chiefly on 
their farms, the population of the place being as yet almost ex- 
clusively agricultural, marked by simple and primitive tastes 
and habits, and all those hardy virtues, which so honorably dis- 
tinguished the founders and defenders of our liberties and pros- 
perity. 

The habits of the people had been little changed during the 
century which had passed away. Their position was in some 
sort insulated. The wilderness was still around them. Inherit- 
ing something of the old feeling, which induced the first settlers 
to wish to call the new plantation by the name of Contentment, 



59 

they were too well satisfied with their lot to feci any strong de- 
sire to desert their homes in search of better. They were con- 
tent to remain as they were. They had no roving propensity, 
and they placed too high a value on their pleasant heritage, 
their green farms, and their sunny slopes by the hill side, and 
on the banks of their beautiful river, to be willing to share 
them with any stranger who should choose to sit down among 
them. They were somewhat jealous of intruders, and as the 
town was originally the property of the company, or Proprietaries, 
and the undivided portions of it remained such still, they had 
the means in some measure of causing their wills to be respect- 
ed. Whoever would come and partake of their goodly inheri- 
tance, must first obtain leave, and this was not easy, unless he 
could make it appear probable by good and sufficient reasons, 
that he would be a desirable neighbor. The consequence was 
that old feelings, habits, and manners were retained. 

Some modification of character, however, might be detected, 
by the observant eye. Many improvements had been made, but 
some imperfections were visible. At the end of a century, and 
earlier, complaints were uttered on the subject of the neglect of 
intellectual education in the Town. Mr. Dexter, in his century 
sermon, after speaking of the regard, which the Fathers of 
New England had shown to "necessary and useful learning," to 
promote which they had "in the days of their weakness, bur- 
dens, and impoverishments" liberally contributed, adds, "let this 
shame us out of our regardlessness to that which is better than 
money and farms. — I think it is beyond dispute," he says, "a 
rare thing to find among us, men of a common character, that 
can use their pens as many of our Fathers could." This was 
said in 1738. 

Undoubtedly, as I have said, the original settlers of Massa- 
chusetts, and of this place, in particular, were as a class, better 
educated than those who occupied the stage after their removal. 
This was, in some measure, the natural result of circumstances 
and situation. The first planters came from the intelligent cir- 
cles, the learned halls, and Universities of Old England. When) 
they fixed themselves in this desert, it was impossible for thejn„ 
however strong their desire, to give their children, and the eoxa- 



GO 

ing generation, the means of the same thorough intellectual 
training which they had enjoyed. What they could they did. 
They endowed a College, and they founded schools. It is not 
surprising that amid the hardships of a life in the wilderness, 
and the perils and sufferings of Indian warfare, the high impul- 
ses which had urged the fathers onward, and which rendered 
the cause of good learning dear to their hearts, should have 
yielded to the dominion of other feelings, or become narrowed 
and chilled in the breasts of their descendants. So it was. And 
it was not till the consequences of the want of a better education 
began in various ways to manifest themselves that attention to 
its interests revived. 

Mr. Dexter lived after the delivery of his century sermon a 
little more than sixteen years. The people were not dilatory in 
their endeavors to fill the vacancy occasioned by his removal. 
Seven months only after his death we find the Parish prepared 
to elect a successor, and they desire the church "as soon as 
they see meet to come to the choice of a minister." Mr. Jason 
Haven was chosen, and the Parish concurring, vote him one 
hundred and thirty-three pounds, six shillings and eight pence, 
"as an encouragement to settle" here, and an annual salary of 
sixty-six pounds, thirteen shillings, and eight pence, and twenty 
cords of wood, "during the time of his carrying on the work of 
the ministry" in the place. The church grant, in addition, "the 
use and improvement" of their lot of land near the meeting house, 
being the whole square between this spot and the burial ground, 
now mostly covered by buildings, as also three pieces of mead- 
ow, and one pasture, the latter on the Medfield road, "to till, 
mow, and feed," as the Record has it, during the term of his 
ministry. The invitation was renewed at a second Parish meet- 
ing called, as it appears, at the request of some dissatisfied mem- 
bers. The answer was conditional, some expressions occurring 
in the votes and offers of the Parish which appeared to Mr. Ha- 
ven exceptionable. The Parish refused to recede. The differ- 
ence however, was soon adjusted, and the 4th of Feb. 1756, 
fixed upon as the day of ordination. The Council assembled at 
the time appointed, but objections being urged on the part of 
some brethren of the church, the first day was passed in hearing 



61 

and deliberating' upon them. These being disposed of, the 
Council vote to proceed to ordination the next day, the 5th of 
February, when the services took place, Mr. Applcton of Cam- 
bridge preaching. It is due to Mr. Haven here to state, that in 
a note to a Sermon preached forty years after, he observes that 
he had the satisfaction of soon numbering the few members of 
the church and Parish opposed to his settlement, among his 
"kind, affectionate and confidential friends, and such," says he, 
"they continued to the end of their lives." 

The affairs of the Parish were now for many years conducted 
with peace and harmony. Men's attention was soon turned to 
other subjects than those of theological controversy; and petty 
and local jealousies, and the miserable warfare, which is too of- 
ten carried on in matters of a religious nature, and frequently 
about points of very trifling importance, were forgotten. The 
revolutionary struggle soon commenced, and this Parish in com- 
mon with others, felt very severely the weight of public burdens. 
These they bore with unflinching fortitude. The Parish records 
afford ample testimony of the alacrity with which the people met 
requisitions for money and men, and of the magnitude of their 
sacrifices and efforts in a cause which they all deemed holy. 

Among other difficulties of the times were those which arose 
from the unsettled condition of the currency, and these were felt 
in Parochial concerns, without however, leading to any serious 
interruption of quiet and harmony. Mr Haven, as observed, 
was to receive in money a salary of sixty-six pounds, and a 
fraction over. In 1670, it is raised to eighty, as, say the Parish 
in a very complimentary vote, " his ministerial labors are very 
acceptable to us," and we are "desirous that he meet with suit- 
able encouragement therein, and to testify the sense we have of 
his abilities and faithfulness." Four years after, they mani- 
fested their liberality by granting a weekly contribution to pro- 
cure preaching for him during a fit of sickness. In 1779, a 
monthly contribution was voted in addition to his usual salary, 
and afterwards, five hundred and twenty pounds were added, on 
account, as it is expressed, "of the rise of the necessaries of 
life." So great was the depreciation of the currency at this 
time, that in voting the salary of next year, the Parish add sev- 



62 

entcon hundred and twenty pounds to the standing sum of eigh- 
ty. The subsequent year the sum was fixed at eighty pounds 
in hard money, or its equivalent. Nine hundred pounds, were 
at this time paid by the Parish to procure a pall to be used at 
funerals. 

Some years after, there was a further fluctuation, but addi- 
tional detail is unnecessary. In 1786, the church grants one 
year's interest of its funds, the first of the kind I have observed, 
towards the Pastor's salary, which the Parish accepts and pas- 
ses a vote of thanks to the church for the grant. After the year 
1792, a similar grant was frequently made at the request of the 
Parish, but it was not till a somewhat later period that'the cus- 
tom obtained of making the grant annual, and this custom was 
afterwards sometimes broken through. The whole expenses of 
the Parish were as yet frequently assessed. 

At the time of Mr. Haven's settlement the meeting house had 
stood more than eighty years. A new one was now in the opin- 
ion of the Parish needed, which they soon proceeded to erect 
with that unanimity which marked all the transactions of this pe- 
riod. The vote to build was passed the 16th March, 1661. At 
an adjourned meeting it was decided that the structure should 
be sixty-feet long, and forty-six wide, that it should have a 
steeple and two porches, the height to be such as to preserve the 
architectural proportions. At the same time a committee is 
chosen "to apply to the church for liberty to get materials or 
timber" from their lands. The plan of the pews and seats in 
the lower part of the house, was furnished by the Rev. Mr. Ha- 
ven. On the 7th of June, 1762, the inhabitants assemble to take 
down the old house. On the 24th, the "sills" of the new were 
laid, the north sill, according to a previous vote of the Parish, 
occupying the preeise place of that of the old, and on the 21st 
Sept. next year, 1763, the pews were disposed of according to 
regulations previously adopted. In this house, much changed 
since, we are now assembled. Occasionally we meet with one 
among us whose memory extends back to the time of its erection, 
seventy-six years ago. One now gone from us, assured me the 
present season that he distinctly recollected the old house, 



63 

which he proceeded in a very clear and intelligible manner to 
describe.* 

The meeting house being finished, an inside clock was pre- 
sented by Samuel Dexter, Esq. Sen. which remained until re- 
placed, a few years ago, by that now before us. 

In 1764 the old New England version of the Psalms, which 
had been before used, was exchanged for that of Tate and Brady; 
and two years after it was voted that Mr. Ebenezer Richards 
"who usualy led in singing be desired to sit on the Lord's day, 
in the seat under the pulpit, commonly called the Elder's seat, 
and that he have the liberty to nominate a number to sit with 
him to assist in carrying on the singing." He proceeded to nom- 
inate eight persons whose names are given. At this time it was 
customary for one of the deacons to read the Psalm piecemeal, 
as it was sung, a custom which continued till 1785, when it was 
abolished by vote of the Parish. In 1724, at the commence- 
ment of Mr. Dexter's ministry, Deacon Wight both read and 
" tuned" the Psalm, as it was called, but the latter service, I 
suppose, did not necessarily devolve on him in virtue of his of- 
fice. 

I find no mention of instrumental music as forming part of the 
services of the Sabbath, before the year 1790, when the Parish 
vote to "admit an instrument of music into public worship to 
strengthen the bass," and desire Mr. Abner Ellis to make use of 
the same. The Bible now used, was presented to the Parish in 
1785, by Mrs. Catharina Barnard already mentioned, on condi- 
tion that the reading of a portion of it should forever, hereafter, 
be made a part of the religious exercises of the Lord's day, 
which, it seems, had not hitherto been the custom. The offer 
was gratefully accepted, and a vote was passed to request the 
Rev. Mr. Haven to read from time to time such portion as he 



* Mr. John Dean, who died Sept. last, at the age of ninety. Two or 
three circumstances mentioned in my description of the old meeting house, 
are given on his authority. I have no doubt of his perfect accuracy, from 
ihe known retentiveness of "his memory, and from the fact that having com- 
pared his statement with the various notices of the house contained in the 
records, I have found, so far as these notices extend, an exact correspon- 
dence in the minutest particular. 



64 

should judge "most suitable," and "of such length as the sev- 
eral seasons of the year and other circumstances" might render 
proper. 

It is more pleasing to trace improvements, than to note faults 
and infirmities. The latter, however, as the Records show, ex- 
isted. Morals were not always pure, and some great inde- 
corum, one would think, must have been observable on the 
Lord's day, or we should not find, in a warrant for a Parish 
meeting, an article "to see if the Parish will provide stocks or 
some other means for the punishment of disorderly persons on 
the Sabbath." 

The church administered its discipline for offences, but some 
alteration in form was, from time to time, required by public sen- 
timent. Until 1771, confession was made by the offending party 
or parties standing in the broad aisle, and before the whole 
congregation, and it was not till 1800 that the latter condition 
was dispensed with. 

In 1793, Tate and Brady's Version of the Psalms was ex- 
changed for that of Dr. Watts. This year, also, an important 
change was made in the mode of admitting persons into the 
church, and the profession required of them. The latter, as 
well as the mode of admission in other respects, has been found 
unexceptionable to the present day. We neither ask nor wish 
for a covenant, or profession drawn up on more liberal princi- 
ples. The only article of faith it requires, is that a person be- 
lieve the christian religion. The teachings of this religion, he is 
allowed to interpret for himself, and the church authorises no 
inquiries as to the result. It takes the broad Protestant ground, 
that the Bible, and the Bible only is the religion of Christians. 
Each one is there to seek his religion, and to whatever views of 
doctrine he may arrive, in the serious exercise of the right of 
private judgment, it belongs not to his fellow beings to condemn 
him. 

The transaction of the church on the occasion alluded to, is 
too important, and too creditable to all concerned, to be passed 
over without some further explanation or statement. The act 
was a deliberate one, and entire harmony prevailed through the 
whole. 



65 

At a meeting of the church, holden the 11th April, 1793. it 
being " suggested to the church whether it might not be advisa- 
ble to make some alterations in the modes and terms of ad- 
mitting persons into the church, and to the enjoyment of christian 
privileges with them," a committee was chosen to take the 
suhject into consideration, and report at an adjourned meeting, 
" what they think proper to be done, agreeable to the light of 
reason and scripture, and the principles of christian liberty." 
The committee appointed for this purpose were Dea. Isaac Bul- 
lard, Timothy Stow, Dea. Joseph Whiting, Samuel Haven, and 
Aaron Fuller. At an adjourned meeting of the church, May 
17th, this committee, says the Record, " Reported the following 
Form of Christian Union, and Covenant Engagements, to which 
all shall agree and consent, who become members of the church, 
viz. 

" We profess our belief of the Christian Religion We unite 
ourselves together for the purpose of obeying the precepts and 
honoring the institutions of the religion we profess. We cove- 
nant and agree with each other, to live together as a band of 
christian brethren, to give and receive counsel and reproof, with 
meekness and candor, to submit with a christian temper to the 
discipline, which the Gospel authorizes the church to administer; 
and diligently to seek after the will of God, and carefully en- 
deavor to obey all his commands. " 

"The church," it is added, " very unanimously voted to ac- 
cept the foregoing as their Form of Christian Union and Cove- 
nant Engagements." 

According, as it is expressed, to " a very unanimous vote of 
the church," passed at the same time, a person desirous of be- 
coming a member of the church is to make known his wish to 
the minister, " who shall mention it in public, a fortnight before 
the admission of said person. If no solid objection be offered 
within that term, the person's name shall be entered in the 
church Book, and said person shall he considered as a member 
of the church, entitled to all the pivileges of the same, and un- 
der the obligations of the before mentioned covenant and agree- 
ment." If, however, any of the modes of admission heretofore 

9 



66 

in use in the church were preferred, the person was at liberty 
to adopt them.* 

Such was the noble example of liberality exhibited by this 
church more than forty-five years ago, — exhibited without oppo- 
sition or controversy, when men's understandings were calm, 
and they could bring to the discussion of the subject unembar- 
rassed minds and an unfettered judgment. The fact shows the 
prevailing state of sentiment and feeling in this society, at the 
time, as far removed from exclusiveness, as liberal and catholic, 
as the most strenuous advocate for rational views and freedom 
of thought and expression, could desire. 

While so much good sense was manifested in concerns more 
strictly of a religious nature, the temporal interests of the church 
and society were not neglected. With singular disinterested- 
ness, the annual income of the church property was suffered to 
remain for a long time untouched, the Parish taxing itself to de- 
fray its expenses, at a time too, when its means were compara- 
tively limited, and the pressure of public burdens was severely 
felt, that the capital might accumulate for the benefit of those 
who should come after. The consequence was, the funds were 
augmented, and by the wise forethought, the virtue, and self 
denial of the Fathers, an ample legacy was left to posterity in 
perpetuity, — was left unencumbered by any entailed creed or 
opinion, and wholly unfettered, excepting only, that it must be 
appropriated to religious uses, to the teaching of Christianity on 
the old spot, and under care and trust of the old, or first 
church.| 

As Mr. Haven approached the evening of his days, his 
strength gradually declined, and the duties of his office were of- 
ten discharged under circumstances of pain and suffering. In 
1798, five years before his death, the question of a supply of the 
pulpit at times when he was unable to perform, came up at the 
annual Parish meeting, and was renewed from year to year, till 
the fall of 1802, when Mr. Joshua Bates received an invitation 



* In the list of admissions into the church during the year subsequent 
to that in which the above alteration was made, I find the names of Fisher 
Ames, and Frances, his wife. 

t See Note M. 



67 

to settle as associate Pastor. The ordination took place the 
16th day of March following, and Mr. Haven after a few days of 
severe sickness, died the 17th of next May, 1803, two months 
after, in the seventy-first year of his age, and forty-eighth of his 
ministry. 

From a Discourse, preached in this place by his early friend, 
Dr. Prentiss of Medfield, the second Sunday following his de- 
cease, and subsequently published, I am able to collect some in- 
formation respecting his talents, ministerial character and stand- 
ing, which, corroborated as it is, by statements derived from 
other sources, by his published sermons, and the traditions of 
the place, I have no doubt is correct. He had a clear mind and 
a perspicuous method; his division of his subject was easy and 
natural ; and his ideas always distinctly expressed, without 
tedious prolixity or "affected conciseness." He was thus always 
understood: no one was ever left in doubt about his meaning, 
and his performances were fitted to produce the precise effect 
he intended. His thoughts lost nothing of their force by being 
transmitted through a cloudy or distorting medium. In the 
choice and treatment of subjects suited to "special occasions," 
he is described as having been particularly happy. In the gen- 
eral style of his preaching I should suppose him to have been 
eminently practical, writing with plain good sense, presenting 
rational views of the doctrines and precepts of Christianity, nei- 
ther perplexing his hearers by metaphysical subtleties, nor be- 
wildering their minds by conducting them into the mazy paths of 
theological controversy. 

In his devotional services he is said to have been ready and 
apt; in cases of affliction and trial, always meeting the feelings 
of his hearers and exerting a soothing and elevating influence. 
To his other qualities he added a gravity of manner and digni- 
fied appearance in public becoming the utterance of weighty 
truths. 

In his social character he possessed many of the requisites 
of a pleasing and instructive companion. His conversation, 
though not ambitious and showy, was distinguished for good 
sense and intelligence; he was kind and affable in his deport- 
ment; in his manners the grave and familiar seemed to blend in 



68 

due proportion, and there was a propriety marked all his actions. 
His people were sensible of his worth; he enjoyed their confi- 
dence, and carried their affections with him to his grave. 

During his ministry, Mr. Haven published several sermons, 
one of which, delivered Feb. 7th, 179G, forty years after his in- 
troduction into the ministry in this place, possesses, in addition 
to its other merits, no slight historical interest. He preached the 
Dudleian Lecture and Convention Sermon, which I do not find 
in the list of his printed discourses;* also a half Century Ser- 
mon, fifty years after Mr. Dexter delivered his Centennial Dis- 
course, relating principally, as appears from a letter of his to 
Dr. Belknap, and now on file in the Library of the Massa- 
chusetts Historical Society, to " changes in the inhabitants" of 
the place, a document which if in existence, would be now cu- 
rious and valuable. 

In approaching the time of my immediate predecessor, I feel 
that I am treading on delicate ground, and my remarks shall be 
brief. A few facts, however, it is necessary to state; many they 
need not be, for I am speaking to you on a subject, to a large 
portion of you more familiar than to myself. When Dr. Bates 
was invited to the pastoral office in this church, it was the com- 
mon impression, I believe, that in his views of christian doctrine 
he belonged to what was called the moderate, or rational school, 
and that in his measures and general tone of preaching, he 
would not appear in the character of an innovator. That such 
was the expectation here, I learn not only from persons on the 
spot, but from others, who were intimate with the counsels of the 
Parish, or of the leading members of it at the time, and many 
corroborating circumstances might be adduced, if needed. For 
a little time nothing seems to have occurred to disappoint this 
expectation. But it ere long became apparent, that the Pastor's 
views had been misapprehended, or that he had changed his 
sentiments, or his policy. Of the latter he was accused, and not 
without some show of reason. Certain it is, that he gradually 
withdrew from ministerial intercourse and exchanges with a por- 
tion of the clergy, whom the people had been accustomed, with 



• See Note N. 



69 

pleasure, to hear in this place, and who belonged to the liberal 
party, as it was then termed; while the young gentlemen from 
a Theological Seminary in a neighboring County, not always as 
prudent as the Pastor himself, were frequently introduced into 
the pulpit. 

This and other indications, not to be mistaken, of growing ex- 
clusiveness, were viewed by a large portion of his people with 
deep regret. They had too much moderation and christian for- 
bearance to become fomenters of discord, but they believed that 
they had serious cause of dissatisfaction and complaint. Other 
circumstances, no doubt, combined to produce, at length, a state 
of feeling not fripndly to a long continuance of peace in the re- 
lation of Pastor and people. Such a state of feeling evidently 
existed, and when Dr. Bates, being chosen President of a Col- 
lege in the State of Vermont, asked a dismission, the request 
was granted without hesitation. 

The Parish was now divided in sentiment. The majority 
were opposed to the new Divinity, as it was called, which since 
the time of Hopkins, had been gaining ground in New England. 
They had been accustomed, in former days, to a rational, but 
serious and earnest mode of treating the doctrines and duties of 
religion, and they could no longer with satisfaction and profit, as 
they thought, listen to any other. After due trial, as it seemed 
to them, regarding unanimity in the then existing state of relig- 
ious opinion, both here and abroad in the community, as hope- 
less, they resolved to proceed, thinking it reasonable, and con- 
sistent with the republican principle, that in cases of an irrecon- 
cilable difference of views, the majority and not the minority 
should govern. But a majority of the church, taking a public 
vote as evidence, were in opposition. As however the consti- 
tution clearly secured to each society, or parish, the right to 
elect its own minister, against the wishes of a majority of the 
communicants, if it saw fit to exercise it, and as they could 
discover no ground in scripture or reason for abstaining from 
the exercise of such right, the exigences of the case requiring 
it, this seeming impediment was surmounted, and the result 
was, the formation of the existing pastoral relation. 



70 

After a portion of the church and society, in the exercise of the 
common liberty of christians, had withdrawn to enjoy separate 
worship according to their views of christian doctrine, it is well 
known that a controversy arose about certain property holden for 
religious uses, which involved the question, which constituted 
the first church, that portion of the members of the old church, 
which had withdrawn, or that which continued to be connected 
in worship and the administration of ordinances with the Parish. 
After the case had been argued by able counsel before the 
Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth, at their law 
term, October 1820, the court decided that the "Church asso- 
ciated and worshipping with the first Parish, is the first Church," 
and as such it is now known, recognized, and acknowledged 
in all civil and ecclesiastical acts.* 

I here close my narrative. "f" We have journeyed on through 
two hundred years, not on the broad and beaten road of history, 
but in one of its unfrequented by-paths. We have found the 
way at times, rugged and thorny; this was incident to the 
nature of the undertaking. If, as a compensation, the eye has 
been greeted by any green spots, or any sunny aspects, if we have 
found now and then a sheltered nook where grew a few flowers 
hitherto uncalled, it is as much as we had a right to expect. 
The task though to me it has been laborious, and has cost me 
many fruitless researches, and many regrets for materials, 
which I could not recover from the gulph which had forever 
closed over them, has yet been a pleasing one, and has fur- 
nished occupation for some sick and sad hours. 

But whether pleasant or painful, the survey we have taken, 
has not, I hope, been without profit. It must have suggested 
to all of us many reflections which it were well to pursue, and 
awakened many slumbering trains of thought, which it were 
wise not soon to let escape from us. 

During the period to which our attention has been directed, 
many changes have been wrought. Change! Change is every 
where, and time is ever busy in working it. All things are full 
of vicissitude, as all are full of labor. Man and his works, yea 



* See note O. j Sec Nole p - 



71 

the monuments which are raised to protect his ashes, and snatch 
his name from oblivion, all are wasting, crumbling to dust, and 
passing away; all are dissolved and mingle with their native el- 
ements, to be combined in other forms, to pass through new 
permutations, and enter into new systems through unending 
ages. 

But why speak of the universality of change, or why attempt 
to trace it on the unfathomable, shoreless ocean of being? The 
alterations, which have taken place within two hundred years, 
and on a single spot, are more than the mind can well grasp. 
If we go back but a single century, what changes have been 
witnessed! not on the broad theatre of the world merely, which 
has assumed an altered aspect; on which objects have shifted 
their positions, and new characters have appeared, and gigantic 
passions have been at work, furrowing the earth with revolu- 
tions, and causing society to heave from its deepest foundations; 
not in the condition and resources of our own country, which 
has risen from Colonial subjection, through stages of unprece- 
dented growth, to liberty and greatness. No. Here have been 
mighty changes, but with these we have at present no concern. 
The field of our vision embraces a narrower circle, the objects 
of which, with their several phases and relations, can be more 
distinctly seen. Our attention is occupied with what lies in the 
vicinity of our daily walks, with the history of the Town we in- 
habit, and the society with which we are united in christian 
worship. 

Another century has gone, and what revolutions are here! 
Could yonder graves give back their tenants of a hundred years, 
how few objects would they recognize as familiar! Could they 
look in upon this assembly, with what surprise would they gaze 
upon us, and we on them with no less! 

You will not expect from me an enumeration of the changes 
the century has witnessed, and I shall not attempt to portray 
them. This I leave to your own imaginations. You can better 
conceive than I can describe, the waste, and growth, and vicis- 
situde, which have marked the spot; what traces time, and in- 
dustry, and skill have left on the soil; what has silently moulder- 
ed, and perished, and disappeared, or yielded to new forms of 



12 

life, and freshness, and beauty. The memory of several among 
you embraces more than half, and of some, three fourths of the 
term of a century, and you can readily recall evidences of revo- 
lution, which to the younger portion of my audience are invisi- 
ble. You can, with little effort, go back to the time when a 
generation which has now vanished occupied these seats; when 
the materials of these edifices had not yet been transported from 
the forest or the quarry; when modes of thinking, occupations, 
usages, which are now matters of history, were living and every 
day realities. 

The soil is the same, the hills and the vallies remain, and the 
calm river at our feet still holds its slow winding way along its 
green meadows with their groups of islands. But the tide of life 
in multitudes of bosoms has been stilled. The seasons return, 
the flowers bloom and fall, and the dews of evening descend as 
ever, but other eyes gaze upon them, and their influences distil 
on other hearts. Many hopes, fears, anxieties, disappointments, 
joys and sorrows have ended. Many designs have been ac- 
complished, and many fair visions have faded. 

But on this theme I cannot dwell. I leave it to your own 
meditations, not doubting that you will derive from it, along 
with many painful reminiscences, much matter of salutary re- 
flection. 

There have been improvements, no doubt, during the century. 
In all outward accommodations and appliances, in the multiplied 
sources of physical comfort and enjoyment, unquestionably there 
has been progress. Whether in intellectual and moral worth we 
are superior to those who have gone before us, is a question be- 
fore we attempt to answer which, we should ponder deeply, and 
pause, and ponder again. In our disposition to eulogize the 
new, we must not allow ourselves to speak too contemptuously 
of the old. There have lived before our times men, who were 
neither dwarfs in intellect, nor puny of heart. Their wisdom, if 
we may judge from its beautiful results, was not all foolishness, 
nor their philosophy mere empyricism. And surely, their relig- 
ion was something better than a narrow superstition. Possibly 
in the hot bed of modern society, some weeds of luxuriant 
growth may shoot up, which a deep reverence and study of the 



73 

past would help to eradicate. Indiscriminately to admire the 
old, or the new, is no proof of a sound mind, or of superior dis- 
cernment. We should cull from both what is good, and cast 
the bad away, sedulously guarding against self adulation and an 
extravagant estimate of ourselves, or of our age, as the bane of 
all improvement. 

In the review we have taken, it has appeared, I think, that 
the community here has been as little subject as any, and less 
subject than most, to fitful and convulsive movements. It has 
been generally marked by steadiness of habits. It has been so 
in its religious character surely. Whatever have been its de- 
fects or faults, fickleness, levity, a capricious spirit, and queru- 
lousness, are certainly not among them. Of this, a history of 
the changes, which have been from time to lime introduced in 
connexion with public worship and the christian rites, which 
have always been accomplished in a peaceful manner, and espe- 
cially the history of the ministry, afford gratifying evidence. In 
the relation of pastor and flock, it would not be easy, I presume, 
to point out an instance, in which entire harmony has more gen- 
erally prevailed, from the period of the foundation of the church 
to the present day. Of the six Pastors, who have preceded me, 
the first five died sustaining the Pastoral relation, and appear to 
have gone to their rest enjoying the affection, and followed by 
the united regrets of their people. 

I believe, too, from a careful inspection of the records of the 
place, and such other documents as I could command, as well as 
from my own experience, that they have enjoyed the average 
degree of happiness, which falls to the lot of the ministry, — a pro- 
fession, which, with whatever circumstances of ease it may ap- 
pear to be attended in the eye of those, who are not aware, or 
do not reflect, how much more exhausting mental labor proves 
than bodily, — is in reality accompanied with peculiar anxiety, 
toil, wear of spirits, and waste of intellectual energies, termina- 
ting too frequently in impaired health, pain and languor, if not 
in premature dissolution. But I forbear. I stand not here to 
speak of the duties and difficulties of the Pastoral office, ox of 
the many rich sources of consolation and pleasure which it 
opens. 

10 



74 

But time warns me that I must bring my remarks to a close. 
What remains, but that we endeavor to be faithful to the lessons 
of the past, that we be patient and tranquil amid all the muta- 
tions of earthly things, setting our hope in the God of our Fath- 
ers, seeking and using the light he may vouchsafe to impart? 
Desiring for ourselves freedom of conscience, and liberty to 
"carry forward the reformation," to assert and enjoy which our 
Fathers come out to "these goings down of the Sun," let us see 
that we do not restrain others in the exercise of them. Let us 
be tolerant of those who differ, honoring sincerity wherever it is 
found, avoiding illiberally and exclusiveness, as unworthy the 
disciples of a meek and heaven descended religion. 

Truth is the exclusive property of no individual and of no sect. 
To claim to be the sole possessors of it, is as absurd as to claim 
a monopoly of the universal light and air. We are not author- 
ised to say to any one, you shall receive it of us, and in such 
proportion, and on such terms as we choose. Each one is enti- 
tled to seek and enjoy it according to his own views of its na- 
ture and evidence. Our language to him should be; Enjoy if, 
in peace; we interfere not, nor condemn. Breathe the atmos- 
phere of freedom; follow where you think you see the light, 
though it lead you aside from the path in which we walk, and 
we pray God to keep thy steps, and grant us to meet in Heaven. 



NOTES. 



NOTE A, p. 9. 

On this point it is unnecessary to adduce authorities. As mat- 
ter of curiosity, however, I will give one or two extracts from 
copies of unpublished Letters, and fragments of Letters, of 
one of the sufferers, an original settler in this place, which 
have been put into my hands by Mr. Joseph Metcalf, a de- 
scendant of the writer. I believe that there is no doubt of 
their genuineness. The author, Michael Metcalf, was born 
according to his own account, in Thetford, in 1586. but at the 
time of his leaving the "land of his father's sepulchres," was 
a Dornick weaver in the city of Norwich, to the freedom of 
which he was admitted in 1618. The following extract, con- 
tains his own account of his motives for emigration, with some 
notice of his voyage. 

"For my not bowing at the name of Jesus; and not observ- 
ing other ceremonies in religion, with other things of the like 
nature forced upon me, at the instance of Bishop Wren, of 
Norwich, himself and his chancellor Dr. Corbet, whose violent 
measures troubled me in the Bishop's court, and returned me 
unto the high Commissioners court; suffering many times for 
the cause of religion, I was forced for the sake of the liberty 
of my conscience, to flee from my wife and children, and go 
into New England; taking ship for the voyage, at London 
the 17th of Sept. 1636; being by tempests tossed up and down 
the seas, till the Christmas following, then veering about to 
Plymouth in Old England; in which time I met with many 
sore afflictions; leaving the ship I went down to Yarmouth in 
Norfolk County, whence I shipped myself and family to come 
to New England; sailed the 15th of April, 1637, and arrived 
in New England three days before midsummer following, with 
my wife and nine children, and a servant." 



76 

The above is from the fragment of a Letter without date. 
The following is from a long Letter apparently entire, addressed 
to " all the true professors of Christ's' Gospel within the city of 
Norwich," and bearing date January 13th, 1636, after his first 
unsuccessful attempt to cross the Atlantic, and while waiting 
an opportunity to embark a second time. It is a sort of fare- 
well Epistle, written with great earnestness, much in the style 
of the Old Puritans, and contains the outpourings of a spirit 
writhing under a sense of personal wrongs, and mourning over 
the evils and sins of the times, and the "miseries of Gods' 
people," which they were suffering from the loss of " faithful 
ministers," and the "tyranny of wicked men." I have room, 
however, only for that portion of it which is of a personal 
nature. 

"You are not ignorant, I suppose," says the writer, "of 
the great trouble I sustained from the Archdeacon's and 
Bishop's court, at the hands of my enemies concerning the 
matter of bowing, as well as for other matters of like conse- 
quence. I alleged against them the Scripture, the canons, 
and the Book of common Prayers, but the chancellor replied, 
he cared for none of them. I further alleged against them 
the authorities of Archbishops and Bishops, as also their great 
patron of ceremonies, the learned Hooker (so called by them), 
together with a Book called the Regiment of the church, 
allowed by authority, which hath these words, that the de- 
crees and constitutions of the Church of England must not be 
made a part of God's worship, neither holden necessary to 
our salvation, as some have vainly taught in some of your 
hearing; for our Savior saith, "in vain do they worship me, 
who teach for doctrines the precepts of men." — The Apostle 
condemneth all voluntary worship devised by men; — Hooker 
after saith, our church doth not enforce bowing at the name of 
Jesus upon any man against his conscience. Notwithstanding 
these and more than these reasons alleged against them, their 
learned and invincible arguments to refute my assertions were 
these; "Blockhead, old heretic, the Devil made you, I will 
send you to the Devil," with such other trim stuff, unfitting 
times (terms?) to be used by a judge in a court of Judicature, 
but of these no more, for these words were not spoken in a 
corner. 

My loving friends be not discouraged too much at innova- 
tions now forced upon you but never before urged upon any 
man's conscience, by any Bishop of the See of Norwich since 
the Reformation, but as the proverb says, new Lords, new laws. 

Such doings make sad thp hearts of God's people. Let now 



77 

faith and patience have their perfect work in these perilous 
times now come upon you by the sufferance of God; be you 
chearly; God is on your side, and his truth is your cause, and 
against you be none but the enemies of the cross of Christ." 

In a Postscript, he alludes again to his "his troubles sus- 
tained at the hands of Bishop Wren, and Corbet, his chancel- 
lor," in consequence of which he was driven from his family, 
and sometimes, says he, " my wife did hide me in the roof of 
the house, covering me over with straw." 

This Bishop Wren, is said by Lord Clarendon, the court his- 
torian, to have been "a man of a severe, sour nature." So pas- 
sionate and furious were his proceedings, in the Diocese of 
Norwich, adds the same historian, that " many left the king- 
dom, to the lessening of the wealthy manufactures there of 
kerseys, and narrow cloths, and, which was worse, transporting 
that mystery into foreign parts." History of the Rebellion, pp. 
183, 1186. ed. Bost. 1827. See also Neal, History of the Puri- 
tans, vol. ii, pp. 298 — 300. Pierce, in his " Vindication of the 
Dissenters," says that among the charges exhibited, by a com- 
mittee of Parliament, against the Bishop, two or three years 
subsequent to the events above alluded to, one was, that in the 
two years and four months during which he held the See of 
Norwich, 3000 of his Majesty's subjects " many of which used 
trades, spinning, weaving, knitting, and making cloth, stuff, 
stockings, and other manufactures of wool, some of them set- 
ting a hundred poor people at work," transported themselves in- 
to Holland, and " other parts beyond the seas," in consequence 
of his " superstition and tyranny." p. 190. Of these Michael 
Metcalf seems to have been one. 



NOTE B, p. 12. 

A conjecture of the Hon. James Savage, the learned and ac- 
complished Editor of Winthrop's Journal, which, though it 
proves to be unfounded, was a very natural one, as the Records 
of the Dedham Church had not fallen under his eye, has had 
the effect of leading astray almost all subsequent writers, who 
have touched on this point. 

In his Appendix to Winthrop's Journal, vol. ii, p. 389, Mr. 
Savage has inserted Cotton Mather's lists of ministers taken 
from the Magnalia, supplying the baptismal names, so far as he 
was able, where Mather had omitted them, and adding other 
particulars. In Mather's first list of those who were in the actu- 
al exercise of the ministry when they left England, we find 



78 

"Phillips of Dedham," the place of the baptismal name 

being left blank. This, Mr. Savage has supplied by Henry, 
and adds, "returned to England in 1642." — Both these addi- 
tions were conjectural on the part of Mr. Savage, as appears 
from his note on p. 86, vol. ii of the Journal. Winthrop there 
speaks of a " Mr. Phillips of Wrentham, in England," whose 
return is mentioned among the events of 1642. This, Mr. Sav- 
age thinks might have been Henry, and adds, that John Phillips 
of Wrentham was one of the Assembly of Westminster Divines. 
The member of the Dedham church, he further conjectures, 
might have been either his son or brother. 

Now, the member of the Dedham church, I suppose, was nei- 
ther a son, nor a brother, but this same John himself. Henry 
Phillips was a member also; but not the person alluded to either 
by Winthrop or Mather. Henry Phillips' name is constantly 
recurring on the Proprietors books, in connexion with grants, 
purchases, and dividends, down at least to 1657-8. The birth 
and baptism of several children are recorded at different times, as 
in 1641, 1643, 1645, 1648, and 1650. He was never a candi- 
date for the ministry here. He is called Henry Phillips for sev- 
eral years, without the Mr. prefixed, afterwards uniformly En- 
sign Henry Phillips. He resided some years in Boston, but 
continued to hold property here, and was engaged in numer- 
ous transactions connected with the sale and transfer of lands. 
These facts show clearly that the Phillips who returned to Eng- 
land in 1641, or 1642, was not Henry Phillips. 

I will now proceed to state what I know of Mr John Phillips, 
from which it will appear, I think, that he is the person to whom 
Mather and Winthrop allude, — that he, and not Henry, as has 
been supposed, was the candidate for the ministry here, who 
" chose to be a candidate in another place," and who remained 
unsettled, and in reference to whom the business of gathering 
the church was for some time delayed. 

Mr John Phillips is mentioned four times in the Church Rec- 
ords. I will give the passages entire. The first occurs in the 
account of the gathering of the church and before the work was 
completed. 

" It is here to be remembered," says the Record, "that we 
apprehending the great weight of the work and our great weak- 
ness and insufficiency thereto, and finding how slowly we could 
proceed in these cases with satisfaction to our consciences, we 
did expect, and much endeavored the guidance of Mr. John 
Phillips, who came over that summer with some godly company, 
and had been invited to this plantation by letters formerly. 
Having therefore hopes from him of obtaining, he was much de- 



79 

sired in the first beginning, whereupon he delaying his resolu- 
tion, we were so delayed in the conclusion of the work, as that 
the summer passed away in the expectation of his help." This 
was the summer of 1638. 

The next passage occurs soon after, also before the church 
was gathered. 

" Things being thus far cleared up in respect to the company, 
now eight persons, we spent divers meetings in the more partic- 
ular conning of divers questions, that concerned the right con- 
stitution of a church, of the nature of the covenant, and how far 
necessary, with other questions of a like nature, whereunto we 
had the longer time by the delay of Mr. Phillips who being call- 
led divers wavs, could not speedily resolve, but at length upon 
weighty reasons concerning the public service of the church, and 
foundation of the College, he was so far persuaded to attend to 
the call of Cambridge that we saw no present hopes of him, and 
so about the beginning of October, came to resolutions to cast 
ourselves upon the Lord, and venture with such help as he 
should afford, rather than delay so great and needful a work any 
longer." 

The next extract relates to a period subsequent not only to 
the gathering of the church, but to the ordination of Mr. Allin, 
and Ruling Elder Hunting, after having chosen whom the 
church as it has been seen, declined electing more officers on 
the ground that better materials might hereafter be had. This, 
in fact, was the reason why, when so hard pressed to decide be- 
tween John Hunting and Ralph Wheelock for ruling elder, they 
did not take both. This was proposed, from tenderness to the 
feelings of Wheelock, whom, though the majority were for 
Hunting, the church was for " divers reasons very loath to de- 
cline." But the proposition was rejected " chiefly," says the 
Record, " because the church being yet but meanly gifted for 
the office, we should deprive ourselves of liberty to take some of 
more able gifts that God might cast in afterward." They there- 
fore proceed as stated in the text, to ordain the Pastor and one 
ruling Elder. This, it wdl be recollected, was the 24th April, 
1639. The following extract, it will be perceived, belongs to 
the next year. 

" Mention was made before of the earnest desire of the church 
to enjoy the help of Mr. Phillips, which they expressed by their 
invitations with the consent of the whole Town before they join- 
ed, and afterwards by a renewed call of the church. But the 
Lord's time not being come, he was drawn rather to attend the 
call of other places till the 1st Nov. of the year 1640. But the 
Lord ordering things so by a special Providence that he no 



80 

where settled, but was freed from all engagements; the Lord al- 
so disappointing our endeavors of supply other where, when we 
came to take notice of his liberty from all other places, we found 
the hearts of all the church desirous to renew the former invita- 
tion, which was so suited with many special Providences of God 
in respect to himself and us, that he saw the Lord's hand clearly 
in it, and so cheerfully accepted the same, and after his coming 
to us, and some more acquaintance with the church, he was 
propounded, with his wife also, the 24th ofthe 3d mo. 1640, and 
admitted with much rejoicing of the church, both he and his 
wife the 31st of the 3d mo. 1640." 

The same year, as the Proprietor's Records inform us, he 
purchases of Joseph Kingsbury three acres of land, bounded 
on the South by the burial ground and the way leading to it, 
East by the way leading to Wigwam Pond or Plain, West by 
land of Mr. John Allin, and North by land of Joseph Kingsbury, 
being part of the Square on which the meeting house, town 
house, and Capt. Alden's hotel now stand. The same year he 
" alienateth and selleth" the same to the church in Dedham 
forever. 

Resuming now the church Record, we find among other mem- 
oranda of a miscellaneous character, at the end of the volume, 
a notice of the departure of Ferdinando Adams, the 3d 6th mo. 
1641, he having previously communicated to the church his pur- 
pose to " sail unto England and there to remain," and obtained 
their permission. 

Soon after, we find the following: " Likewise our Reverend 
brother Mr. John Phillips with his wife propounding divers rea- 
sons of their intended departure and return to England, for the 
satisfaction of the church therein, and further advice about the 
same, the church though divers were unsatisfied in his reasons, 
yielded consent to his departure, as appears in other notes to 
that effect, and he took ship 26th 8th month, 1641." 

Lechford, in his "Plain Dealing, or Newes from New Eng- 
land," the Preface to which is dated " Clement's Inne, Jan 17, 
1641," giving a catalogue of ministers in the Bay, mentions a 
"Master Phillips out of office" at Dedham, 3, Hist. Coll. iii. 93. 
This can be no other than the John Phillips above mentioned. 
There is nothing which would lead to a suspicion that Winthrop 
referred to any other individual, except a discrepance of one year 
in the date, as Mr Savage understood him. As I understand him, 
this seeming discrepance vanishes. Winthrop inseris his account 
ofthe disastrous voyage of the ship which bore Mr. Phillips and 
others, among the transactions ofthe autumn of 1642, though no 
dates occur in the account itself inconsistent with the supposi- 



SI 

tion that the event belonged, in part, at least, to the preceding 
year. Further, I think the statement requires this supposition. 

Mr. Allin's Record gives the autumn of 1641 as the time of 
Mr. Phillips departure. Winthrop says that they were tossed 
up and down a December's sea, their provisions being nearly 
exhausted in consequence of the length of the voyage. Allin 
says they sailed on the 26th of Stept*ahber. This, so far, har- 
monizes very well with Winthrop's statement, since there is 
nothing improbable in the supposition that, at that period, a voy- 
age commenced late in .September, might not be completed be- 
fore the end of December. If Winthrop's account of it was 
written during the fall, the occurrences of which are related in 
connexion with it, or any time, in fact, before the latter part of 
the winter following, it must of necessity refer back to the pre- 
ceding year, 1641, since, as before observed, it states that the 
ship was at sea, on her way to England, the passengers being 
put on allowance in consequence of the failure of provisions, in 
December — circumstances which could not have been known to 
him until intelligence was brought by vessels leaving after her 
arrival. I feel very confident from a careful inspection of the 
whole passage, that Winthrop is giving the history of a voyage, 
which was undertaken in the autumn of 1641, but which did not 
terminate before the latter part of December, or early in Janua- 
ry following, and that on receiving information concerning it 
from his friends in England the next season, he inserted the ac- 
count in his Journal without particularly specifying dates, any 
further than to observe incidentally, that those on board were 
exposed to peculiar suffering being at sea in December, and 
their provisions nearly exhausted 

But however this account may be disposed of. it is very clear, 
I think, from the above statement and extracts, that Mr John 
Phillips, and not Henry Phillips, was the candidate for office in 
this church and elsewhere, and that he was the Phillips referred 
to by Mather as having left and returned home. I have very 
little doubt that he was the same John Phillips to whom Mr. 
Savage alludes as a member of the Westminster Assembly of 
Divines, and out of "affection" to whom Deacon Chickering 
declined for some time taking office A faint hope of his return 
may possibly, for a time, have lingered in the breasts of some 
members of this church 

In regard to the assertion, made, however, not by Mr. Sav- 
age, that Henry Phillips became a " discouraged and broken 
hearted christian," I may be permitted to observe, that there is 
no authority for it in our church records. The expression in 
the records, used in reference to his admission into the church, 

11 



82 

is, " he appeared to the church a lender and broken hearted 
christian," the phrase " broken hearted" being evidently used 
in the scriptural sense, as in Psalm LI, 17, — " The sacrifices of 
God are a broken heart, a broken and a contrite heart, O God, 
thou wilt not despise." The opposite expression was sometimes 
used. A case occurs in point, in a quotation I have given from 
Mr. Adams' Fast Sermon, p. 38. Thus he speaks of persons 
remaining " heart whole," referring to their impenitence and 
pride. 



NOTE C, p. 14. 

The Covenant of this church I suppose, may be taken as a 
fair specimen of the Covenants of the early New England 
churches, which were not in general creed Covenants, but re- 
lated solely to practice. Such certainly is the character of 
that adopted here in 1638, which is in the words following. 

"We whose names are subscribed, having found by woful 
experience, the unstedfastness of our hearts with God, and 
proneness to go astray from his ways (for which we desire to 
abase and humble ourselves in his presence) and desiring to be 
joined forever to the Lord, and to cleave together in spiritual 
love and communion, according to his holy institutions, that 
we might enjoy in his name such holy helps as the Lord Jesus in 
wisdom and compassion hath ordained in his gospel for his 
people, thereby to let out himself unto them, and to build 
them up in faith and holiness, till he have prepared them for 
everlasting communion with himself. 

" We do therefore, in the name and presence of God, and 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and before his people here assembled, 
solemnly enter into covenant with the Lord our God, professing 
and acknowledging the Lord Jesus, our blessed Redeemer, 
to be the only priest, prophet, and king of his church, and 
(through the help of his grace) his only merit we rest upon 
for our pardon and peace with the Father, his only teaching 
and righteous government, with all the blessed ordinances of 
his kingdom; we do embrace and submit unto all things, as 
the only rule of our lives; renouncing all our own righteous- 
ness, with all the doctrines, devices, and commandments of 
men, not agreeing with his holy word; especially all the 
superstitious and tyrannous commands of Antichrist, and his 
adherents, wherein we have in any kind been entangled; 
professing and promising (through the help of his rich grace) 
henceforth not to live unto ourselves, but unto the Lord Jesus, 



83 

who hath bought us with his blood, avoiding carefully all such 
things as be offensive to his Majesty, and dishonorable to our 
profession of his name, with all such dangerous temptations aa 
our sinful hearts are wont to be drawn aside withal, in special, 
the inordinate cares of, and entanglements in, the affairs of 
this life: promising and professing also through the help of the 
Lord, to live together in this our holy fellowship, according to 
the rule of love, in all holy watchfulness over each other, and 
faithful mutual helpfulness in the ways of God, for the spiritual 
and temporal comfort and good of one another in the Lord; 
and all to the setting forth of the praise of his rich grace in 
Christ, who hath called us, in his abundant mercy, to this holy 
fellowship with his Majesty, and one with another." 

On the 23d of May, 1683, during the ministry of Mr. Adams, 
as appears from the Appendix to Mr. Dexter's Sermon, (for 
the Records of the period are lost), the church renewed its 
Covenant in the same words, adding at the end some para- 
graphs relating particularly to the sins of the times. As these 
additions are of little importance in themselves, and the inser- 
tion of them would occupy more space than can well be spared, 
I shall not be censured, I trust, for their omission. I will only 
observe, that among the sins enumerated, and the catalogue of 
which must sound somewhat strangely in the ears of those who 
are accustomed to attribute a remarkable degree of purity to 
the days of our fathers, are "neglect or profanation of the wor- 
ship and institutions of Christ, sabbath breaking, vain and sin- 
ful company keeping, misspending of time, excessive drinking, 
wanton and loose behavior, failing: in truth, uncharitable and un- 
righteous censuring, sinful tale bearing, corrupt communication, 
pride, covetousness, and the like." This it will be recollected 
was in 1683. Mr. Adams' Sermons, which relate to nearly the 
same period, present, as we have seen, a similar picture. 
What worse could be said of modern degeneracy? 

In 1742, during Mr Dexter's ministry the covenant was 
again renewed, the original form being recited, with the addi- 
tions above alluded to. " About the year 1767," as Mr. Haven 
informs us, in a note to his Sermon preached forty years after 
his ordination, a substitute was adopted, " more concise, and 
expressed in more genera! terms " The transaction, however, 
is not alluded to in the church records. No other alteration in 
the Covenant was made till 1793, when the form now in use was 
adopted. For this, see p. 65. 



84 

NOTE D. p. 20. 

Winthrop in his Addenda, (ii, 342,) mentions a "John 
Allen, of Surslingham, a minister in Norfolk," who, in 1635, or 
about that time, sent over to the Treasury of the Colony twenty 
five pounds, by Thomas Fisher, of V\ inton. This I suspect to 
have been Mr. Allin afterwards pastor of Dedham. Thomas 
Fisher, it will be recollected, was admitted a member at Ded- 
ham, along with Mr. Allin, though there is no evidence that he 
came over at the same time. Michael Metcalf, mentioned 
in a former note, was another of Mr. Allin's company, and he, 
as we have seen was from Norwich Surslingham belonged to 
the same Diocese. Now among the ministers of that Diocese 
silenced by Bishop Wren in 1636 or 1637, Neal, (Hist. Puri- 
tans, ii, 300, ed. Bost. 1817,) mentions a Mr. John Allen. Prob- 
ably he and Metcalf came in the same ship, for they both arrived 
in the summer of 1637. These circumstances put together lead 
me to suspect that the Mr. John Allen of Surslingham, men- 
tioned by Winthrop, and the individual of the same name si- 
lenced by Bishop Wren, and the Pastor of Dedham were the 
same. From affection or respect for him, or previous acquain- 
tance with him personally, or by reputation, Fisher or the Fish- 
ers, (for there were three of them, John, Thomas, and Anthony, 
admitted at the same time,) and others probably, may have been 
induced to select this spot as the place of their future residence. 
Thomas Fisher undertook the building of the meeting house, 
but died before it was finished. Both he, and Anthony Fisher 
originally took lots adjoining Mr. Allin's, that of the former 
bounding Mr. Allin's on the South, and that of the latter on the 
North. John also had a lot in the vicinity, but he died early. 

Joshua Fisher, who, as has been already observed, died in 
1672, was also here early, though not admitted into the church 
before 1648. Daniel Fisher alluded to, on page 29, as an an- 
cestor of Fisher Ames, but whose name was inadvertently omit- 
ed in a notice of the death of some of Mr. Allin's cotemporaries 
in the foot note on the same page, was admitted several years 
earlier, that is, previously to the 24th of April, 1639. He died 
in 1683. Anthony Fisher received into the church in 1645, 
died in 1669. Michael Metcalf admitted in 1639, died in 1664. 
His name stands first on the Committee chosen to "contrive the 
fabricke of a meeting house." His associates were John Luson, 
Anthony Fisher, and Joseph Kingsbury. — Edward Alleyn died 
at Boston in 1642. 



85 

NOTE E. p. 23. 

A copy of the original edition is found in the American An- 
tiquarian Society, at Worcester, bearing the following title. 
"A Defence of the Answer made unto the Nine Questions, or 
Positions, sent from New England against the Reply of that 
Reverend Servant of Christ, Mr. John Ball; entitled Tryall of 
the New Church Way in New England, and in Old. Wherein 
besides a more full opening of Sundry Particulars concerning 
Liturgies, Power of the Keys, Matter of the Visible Church &c. 
is more largely handled that controversy concerning the Catho- 
lic Visible Church, tending to clear up the Old Way of Christ 
in New England Churches. 

By John Allin. ) „ c ( Dedham ) ■ -» T ^ 

rri o, ' i Pastor of { n , • •, > in N. E. 
Iho. Shepard, ) ^Cambridge.) 

Lon. 1648." 

By an error of the press the Preface bears the signature of 
Tho. Allin and Tho. Shepard. (Thomas Allin was minister of 
Charlestown.) The same error occurs in the edition of 1653. 
But this, I am convinced by a careful collation of a copy of the 
two editions is not a reprint, but a part of the former edition, 
garnished with a false title page, which reads as follows, — " A 
Treatise of Liturgies, Power of the Keys, and Matter of the 
Visible Church. In answer of the Rev. Servant of Christ Mr. 
John Ball, by Thomas Shepard, sometimes Fellow of Harvard 
College in Cambridge, and late Pastor of Cambridge in New 
England.. Lon. 1653." Here, it will be observed, the name of 
Allin is wholly omitted, though, as before said, that of Tho. Al- 
lin and Tho. Shepard stand after the Preface. That this is an 
error of the press, however, very readily accounted for by the 
circumstance that the work was printed in a foreign country, 
and the proof sheets therefore could not be submitted to the in- 
spection of the authors, is abundantly evident. No one who 
reads the Preface with ordinary attention can for a moment 
doubt that it was written by the authors of the Defence. It con- 
tains in itself proof incontestable on this point. The following 
are some of the notices of the book, and of the writers with 
which I have incidentally met in my researches. 

That Mr. Allin whose name stands first on the title page of the 
original edition, had a principal share in its composition has 
never been questioned. Cotton Mather, once indeed, speaks of 
the Defence as Shepard's, expressing himself in a loose way, his 
purpose not particularly requiring precision of language. In his 
life of Mr. Allin of Dedham, however, he affirms that he wrote 
it "with Mr. Shepard of Cambridge," and John Cotton couples 



S6 

both names in a complimentary allusion to the work in his Latin 
Preface to Norton's Reply to Apollonius. Dr. Eliot, in his Bi- 
ographical Dictionary gives the reference incorrectly to the 
" Preface to Norton's Sermon." The whole passage with the 
exception of two or three unimportant words, is given°by Mather 
vol. i, p. 417. The Preface of Allin and Shepard was in part 
republished in a small collection of Tracts relating to the early 
history of New England, printed in Boston in 1696, under the 
title of " Massachusetts, or the First Planters of New England 
the End and Manner of their coming thither, and Abode there' 
&c." It is there called the " Preface of the Rev. Mr. John Al- 
lin of Dedham and Mr. Thomas Shepard of Cambridge in New 
England before their Defence of the Answer made unto the 
Nine Questions." 

In a Tract published in Boston in 169S, entitled " The Judg- 
ment of several Eminent Divines of the Congregational Way 
concerning a Pastor's Power occasionally to exert Ministerial 
Acts inanother Church, besides that which is his own particular 
Flock," to which is prefixed a commendatory notice by James 
Allen, Samuel Willard, Michael Wigglesworth, Cotton Mather, 
and Nehemiah Walter, the author among other authorities he 
adduces, appeals to " Mr. Thomas Shepard, the first Pastor at 
Cambridge in N. E and Mr. John Allin, Pastor of the Church 
at Dedham, in their Defence of the Nine Positions (printed in 
the year 1648) in Answer to Mr. Ball." In this Treatise, he 
says, they " acknowledge that though a minister has not such 
power in another church as he has over them that are his proper 
flock, nevertheless that he may charitably put forth an act of 
his office to those in another church of whom he is no officer, 
p. 132, 135; and again p. 134, in answer to that question', 
whether a minister may administer the seals in another congre- 
gation, their words are, ' we will not deny but that occasionally 
being called thereunto by the desire of the church he may law- 
fully do the same.' This was the judgment of Mr. Shepard of 
Cambridge, and Mr. Allin of Dedham, both of them famous in 
Hew England "—pp. 10, 11. This power of a Pastor was ear- 
ly denied by many in New England. 

The work was appealed to as illustrating the views and opin- 
ions of the early Planters on other subjects. Thomas Shepard 
of Charlestown, in his Election Sermon, refers to it as written 
by ^ c Mr. Allin of Dedham with" says he, "my honored Fath- 
er," and adduces its authority to prove that the original emi- 
grants came not out as separatists, but " for progress in the 
work of Reformation," as had been said by many others. 



87 

I mentioned, in a former part of this note, a slight inaccuracy 
in a reference made by Dr. Eliot in his article on Mr. Allin. 
The L'iographer has also misapprehended the remark of Cot- 
ton Mather in relation to Mr. Allin's Epitaph. Mather^ says 
that the lines 

" Vir sincerus, Amans pacis, patiensque Laborum, 
Perspicuus, Simplex, Doctrinaei purus Amator." 
originally applied to Philippus Gallus, might be made the 
epitaph of John Allin. Eliot quotes them as actually Allin's 
epitaph. There are some other errors, or marks of haste in 
Eliot's article. Near its commencement 1737 is put for 1637. 
This of course must have been an error of the press. 



NOTE F. p. 29. 

The following will serve as a specimen of these Grants, and 
of the motives which led to them. 

" Whereas Mr. John Allin the new pastor of our congrega- 
tion hath for much time past taken great pains both in exercis- 
ing his gifts amongst us: and careful in attending his said of- 
fice since it pleased the Lord to call him thereunto; As also hath 
been at much expense in his diligent and faithful practice for 
the good both of Church and commonwealth amongst us the 
whole time he hath been with us; which we acknowledge we 
are bound to sbowe ourselves thankful for by taking care for 
that convenient means of employment, and improvement of his 
stock for his more comfortable subsistence in the aforesaid of- 
fice whereunto he is so called; In which respect we do now 
grant unto the said Mr. John Allin our present Pastor and to 
his assigns forever Thirty acres of meadow lying beyond the 
Rocks Westwards: to begin at the North corner of the said 
meadow and so on both sides of the brook to measure the said 
meadow Southwards unto the portion of 30 acres complete. Al- 
so we do grant unto Mr. John Allin our said Pastor and to his 
assigns forever One hundred and twenty acres of upland next 
adjoining unto the said Meadow as may be most convenient to 
be annexed unto the same: And to be measured out in time 
convenient accordingly as he shall require the same to be done. 
And also for his more peaceable and comfortable subsistence in 
the before said office we do further grant that the said meadow 
and upland shall be free from payment of all charges in or con- 
cerning our towne during the time the said Mr. John Allin 
shall remain in office amongst us and employ the same himself 
or by some other to his use and no longer." Fol. i. p. 40. 



S8 

This was in 1639. The same year Mr. Allin purchased the 
twelve acre lot, and house upon it, of Nicholas Phillips. On this 
lot the Jail and House of Correction, and the house now occupi- 
ed by Samuel Swett, Esq, at present stand. It extended through 
from Charles River to the burial ground on the South, a part of 
it extending beyond it on the West, to the meadow, the Eastern 
boundary being the lot of Joseph Kingsbury, the dividing line 
between them running a little south of the centre of the street, 
(which might with propriety be called Allen street,) now leading 
from High street back of the meeting house, and by the 
Town house, to the burial ground. High street passed through 
it, and on the West lav the lot of Lambert Genere. Mr. Allin's 
original house lot, which he the next year sold, lay West of this, 
as did most of his estates, though not all, for he at one time 
owned a part of the Mill on Mother Brook and some upland 
about it, which, in 1650, he sold to Nathaniel Whiting. His 
original house lot together with the lots of Thomas and Anthony 
Fisher, Thomas Wight, and some others, lay, as it appears, in 
and about what now constitutes the upper village, " for wood and 
timber running in among the rocks westward." There was at 
that time a place called " Ragged Plain," lying in a westerly 
direction, as any one will be convinced, who carefully studies 
the Book of Grants and Alienations. The road to it lay through, 
or along side of several of the lots above alluded to. What is 
now known as " Ragged Plain," (on the Canton road) was not 
the original one, or there were two places so designated. 

The order of the General Court, Oct. 17th, 1649, requesting 
the Treasurer to pay to " Mr. John Allen" 130/. as satisfaction 
for 100/. advanced to defray the expenses of Mr. Ed. Winslow's 
mission, as it now appears, referred not, as has been supposed, 
to the Rev. John Allin of Dedham, but to a Capt. John Allen, 
who had rendered the Colony this, or some other services. On 
examination of the Records of the Court I received the impres- 
sion, as did Mr. Haven, who examined them before me, (Cen- 
tennial Address, p. 63,) that Mr. Allin of Dedham was the per- 
son intended. This was quite natural. As Mr. John Allin of 
Dedham was mentioned in a preceding grant, (1643,) and again 
in a subsequent part of the Record, (1653,) the obvious infer- 
ence was that " Mr. John Allen," referred to in the order of 
1649, was the same individual. But on looking over the recently 
published volume, (vol. vii, 3d Series,) of the Mass. Historical 
Collections, I find in some documents relating to DAulney and 
La Tour, taken from the "Archives of Massachusetts," a John 
Allen repeatedly mentioned, who in the concluding document is 
called " Capt. John Allen," and some circumstances are added, 



89 

which show clearly that the Mr. Allen mentioned in the order of 
1649 in connexion with the loan, was not Mr. Allin of Dedham, 
but the Captain aforesaid, who is a new personage in history. 
The document is signed by William Torrey, Clerk, and Ed. 
Rawson, Secretary, and bears date '27. 8. 1668. The following 
is an extract. " The Deputies understanding by good informa- 
tion that Capt. John Allen hath several times been employed by 
order from this Court, viz. ten days to look after a French ship 
upon the coast, as also a voyage to Monsieur D'Aulney, both 
himself and ship, for the space of near twenty days, besides a 
second voyage to the aforesaid D'Aulney, wherein he was absent 
six weeks; to which may be added, his lending Mr. Winslow 
for his country's use, 100/. in England, which was not paid in 
seven years after, and then but in country pay, all which con- 
sidered the Deputies judge meet," &c. "to grant him a thou- 
sand acres of land where he can find it according to law, so as 
he take it not up in above two places." 3 Hist. Coll. vii, pp. 
120, 121. Mr Allin of Dedham always wrote his name Allin, 
and not Allen, but nothing is to be inferred from this circum- 
stance, as the orthography of the day was not uniform. 

The Bogestow, or Bogastow, alluded to in the grant to 
the Rev. John Allin as lying on Charles river, is a well 
known place, now, as I have said, included within the limits of 
Medvvay. Dr. Morse, in his Geography and Gazateer says, I 
know not on what authority, that the Indian name of Charles 
River was Quinobcquin. 



NOTE G. p. 35. 

A similar project had been previously before the Town, a law 
of 1654 making it the duty of Towns to provide houses for their 
ministers. In 1668, during Mr. Allin's ministry, it was voted at 
a general meeting of the Town, to build " a convenient dwelling 
house on the lot called the church lot," and to plant and enclose 
an orchard there. At the next meeting, 18th 12 mo. 1669, ob- 
jections being urged, on account of the " public charges," and 
a debt which is specified, a proposition was made to dispose 
of some of the public lands lying near the Dorchester line, 
in order to build a house in the " place aforesaid," from 40 to 
50 feet long, and from 18 to 20 wide, 13 feet " between joints, 
double floors, with windows, and all the building sufficient for 
strength and convenience." Here, I believe, the affair ended 
for that time. Some time after Mr Adams' settlement, the 
Town vote that a frame be :< forthwith'.' prepared for him at the 

12 



90 

Town charge, and the business is committed to the select men 
for execution; but upon consultation with Mr. Adams, it is 
thought best to deter it " some time longer:" mean time Mr. Ad- 
ams might contrive to " set up the frame to content of all, or may 
he provided some other way." Nothing more was done till his 
death. An attempt was afterwards made to purchase Mr. Alhn's 
houses and lands, but difficulties presenting themselves, the pro- 
ject seems to have been finally abandoned. 



NOTE H, p. 40. 

This vote is very carefully recorded at length both in the Town 
Record, and in the Deacon's Book. Other instances of a simi- 
lar kind near the same period may be adduced which go to show 
that the right of the church, technically so called, to precede the 
people in the election of a minister was then contested and 
sometimes with success. The case of Salem, when Mr. Nicho- 
let was chosen to the office of Pastor, is one. Another instance 
occurred in Charlestown in 1697. Referring to this case, the 
Rev. H. Ware, Jr. remarks, in a note to his Century Sermon 
delivered in 1821, after mentioning a vote passed by the Old 
North church in Boston relative to it, " I have noticed this vote 
particularly, because it is sometimes attempted to make us be- 
lieve, that the choice of ministers by the people, instead of the 
church, is a modern innovation, opposed to the uniform usage in 
times past. Here is an example to the contrary of as long ago 
as one hundred and twenty-four years ; and the example and 
opinion of the church in Charlestown is as valuable in settling 
the question of usage as those of any other church. This satis- 
fies us that usage is not invariable, and that the principle so far 
from being settled was actually contested from the first." Ac- 
cordingly Cotton Mather acknowledges, " many people would 
not allow the church any privilege to go before them in the 
choice of a Pastor." Ratio Discipline p. 16. According to the 
same author, the church, though compelled to yield, sometimes 
resorted to a sort of artifice to cover its defeat, electing three or 
four persons, so that on whichsoever of them the choice of the 
people might fall, it might still be said, " The church has chosen 
him." ib. p. 17. He complains of the disposition of the people 
to " supersede" the law, and " overrule it," as it then stood. 
Their argument against allowing the church to precede them in 
the choice of a minister was, " We must maintain him." ib. p. 16. 

The case here preceded that of Charlestown by some years. 
Nor was it the only one which occurred here, for two years af- 



91 

ter, in giving a call to Mr. Pierpont, the people took the lead, 
and the vote of the church followed. The General Court about 
this period passed a law giving to Towns and Parishes the ex- 
clusive right to elect their ministers, and though this law did not 
long continue in force, its passage viewed in connexion with ex- 
amples of the kind just alluded to, (and Brattle Street was anoth- 
er instance; how many more exist I cannot tell; it is not proba- 
ble that they were solitary instances,) furnishes a sufficient indi- 
cation of the struggle which was then going on, in which we may 
detect the old spirit of liberty jealous of every encroachment on 
popular rights. Of course, as the number of communicants, in 
progress of time, became less in proportion to the congregation, 
or people, the latter would with the more reluctance submit to 
be controlled in their choice ot a minister by the church, espe- 
cially as they must provide for his maintenance when settled, and 
his ministrations were to be for the common benefit. The result 
of the struggle might be foreseen. It appeared in the Constitu- 
tion of 1780. 



NOTE I. p. 41. 

To the name of Samuel Lee a more than ordinary interest at- 
taches. He is described as possessing " a strong and brilliant 
imagination," and as being "extensively learned." "Hardly 
ever a more universally learned person," says Cotton Mather, 
"trod the American strand." " Live, O rare Lee, live," ex- 
claims the same writer, "if not in our works, yet in ihy own." 
Of his learning, however, we have more unequivocal testimony 
than the rhapsodies of Cotton Mather. His books though now 
little known, enjoyed a high reputation at the time. One of 
them, "The Triumph of Mercy in the Chariot of Praise," as El- 
iot, in his Biographical Dictionary informs us, was much read in 
New England. The author, however, according to the same 
authority, was haughty, overbearing, and eccentric, disgusting 
by his extravagance those who viewed his talents with admi- 
ration, and read his productions with delight. 

He was the son of a wealthy London merchant; was educa- 
ted at Oxford; became fellow of Wadham College, and Proctor 
of the University; afterwards went to London, where he had 
the living of Bishops-Gate church, conferred by Cromwell, but. 
was silenced by the Act of Uniformity in 1662. " He was," 
says Calamy (Continuation of Account of Ejected Ministers, p. 
53, et seqq.) " a considerable general scholar, understood the 
learned languages well, spoke Latin fluently and elegantly, was 



02 

well versed in all the liberal arts and sciences, was a great mas- 
ter in Physic and Alchymy, and no stranger to any part of polite 
and useful learning." He came to this country in 1686. Eliot 
says that "two reasons were assigned for Ins leaving his country, 
one that he was afraid of the growth of popery. Another, that 
he was invited to be president of Harvard College." The Ded- 
ham Plantation was then in its most depressed state. That he 
should not have accepted its call is not surprising. 

In 1687, he became Pastor of a church in Bristol, R I. But 
he was not pleased with his residence in New England, and af- 
ter intelligence of the Revolution of 1688 arrived, he became 
impatient to leave. He remained, however, till 1691, when in 
his haste to depart, "lie with great hazard," says Calatny, 
"travelled to Boston, with his wife and family, and in the midst 
of winter, set sail for Old England." Yet, withal, he was a 
" timorous" man, and somewhat superstitious too, and dreaded 
above all things death in captivity or a prison. He had dipped 
deeply into astrology, which he durst not approve, and once 
burned nearly a hundred volumes which taught the art, yet he 
could not banish from his mind the ideas with which a study of 
it had rendered him familiar, nor, with all the efforts of the rea- 
soning faculty, succeed in divesting his imagination of a lin- 
gering reverence for predictions founded upon it. A few nights 
before he sailed, he told his wife that he had " viewed a star 
which according to the rules of astrology presaged captivity." 
Alarmed at this, he persuaded the captain to delay sailing for a 
few days, without however letting him know the reason he had 
for desiring him to wait. At length, however, he pursued his 
voyage, but encountered violent winds, and the ship being driv- 
en on the coast of Ireland, was attacked by a French privateer, 
and after strenuous resistance for some hours, was taken, and 
carried as a prize to St. Maloe, in France. Here his family 
was separated from him and sent home. Left alone in a strange 
country, he soon fell sick, and died " in possession," says the 
author just referred to, " of those very enemies whom all his 
days he had most dreaded " Neal, Hist. New England, p. 419, 
says he died in prison, and adds that his "timorous spirit," in 
consequence of which he was so possessed with a fear of the re- 
turn of Popish cruelties that he fled from England, " put him 
upon those measures that brought him to the end he always fear- 
ed." He found a heretic's grave, being denied burial within the 
city. See also Wood, Athen. Oxon. 

Jonathan Pierpont also mentioned on page 41, was from Rox- 
bury, graduated at Harvard College, 1685, ordained at Read- 
ing, June 28, 1689, died June 2, 1709, at the age of 44. John 



93 

Rogers was the son of President Rogers, and was ordained at 
Ipswich, in 1692, and died Dec. 28th, 1745, in the 80th year of 
his age. See Mss. additions to Harv. Coll. Catalogue in the 
Historical Library. Nathaniel Clap was the son of Nathaniel 
Clap of Dorchester, and was settled at Newport, and died Oct. 
30, 1745, at the age of 78. See Callender's Century Discourse; 
also 1 Hist. Coll. ix, 184, x, 170. 



NOTE K. p. 46. 

Of Mr. Belcher's piunted Sermon's I have met with the 
following, which are probably all which he published. 

1. "The Worst Enemy Conquered. A brief Discourse 
on the Methods and Motives to pursue a victory over those 
Habits of Sin which Avar against the Soul. Delivered on June 
6, 1698. The day for the Election of Officers in the Artillery 
Company, at Boston. By Joseph Belcher, Pastor of the church 
in Dedham. Boston in N. E. 1698." The Preface is by Cotton 
Mather. 

2. "The Singular Happiness of such Heads and Rulers as 
are able to choose out their People's Way, and will also 
Endeavor their People's comfort. As it was discoursed in a 
brief sermon, Preached to the Great and General Assembly 
of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, convened at Boston, 
inN. E. on May 28, 1701. The stated day for the Anniversary 
Election of Counsellors. By Mr. Joseph Belcher, Pastor of the 
Church in Dedham. Boston 1701." Preface by Samuel Tor- 
rey of Weymouth. 

3. " Two Sermons Preached in Dedham, N. E. The First 
on a day set apart for Prayer with Fasting, to Implore Spiritual 
Blessings on the Rising Generation. The other (some time af- 
ter) in Private to a considerable number of Young Persons, in 
the aforesaid Town, and at the earnest desire of several of the 
hearers. Published by Joseph Belcher, M. A. — Boston 1710." 
These are written in an exceedingly plain, not to say homely 
style, and no particular care appears to have been bestowed on 
their composition. 

4 "God Giveth the Increase, an Ordination Sermon, Preach- 
ed at Bristol, N. E. August 30, 1721, when Mr. Nathaniel Cot- 
ton was ordained the Pastor of the Church there. By Joseph 
Belcher, Pastor of the Church in Dedham. — Boston 1722." — 
Preface by Dr, Increase Mather. 

A well executed Portrait of Mr. Belcher was in possession of 
Mrs. Lucy Gay, wife of Dea. Ichabod Gay of the West Parish, 



94 

at the time of her death. Mrs. Gay was daughter of Col. Jo- 
seph Richards, and grand daughter of the Rev. Mr. Belcher. 
Dea. Gay left one son, the late Capt. William Gay, to whom the 
portrait descended; and by whose widow, Elizabeth Gay, it has 
been preserved. I take pleasure in being able to add the follow- 
ing communication from her, recently received through the agen- 
cy of the Hon. William Ellis, to whom for this, and other services 
by which I have been aided in my inquiries, I am happy to ac- 
knowledge my obligation. 

" To the Rev. Alvan Lamson, D. D. Pastor of the First 
Church of Dedham, 

" Sir, — In behalf of myself and family, I hereby present 
through you, to the First Church of Dedham, the Portrait of the 
Rev Joseph Belcher, formerly Pastor of said Church, on condi- 
tion that this Relic of Antiquity be put in order, and preserved 
in some suitable place, under the care and direction of the 
said first Church of Dedham. Elizabeth Gat. 

Dedham, January 1st, 1839." 

Though, since the reception of this note, I have not had op- 
portunity of communicating it to the Church, I hazard nothing 
in saying that the Portrait will be gratefully accepted, and that 
due care will be taken for its preservation. 



NOTE L, p. 51. 

She was Catharina Mears, the daughter of Mr. Samuel Mears, 
who kept the public house near the Roxbury line, long and fa- 
miliarly known as the " George Tavern," and which was burn- 
ed July 31st, 1775. Her mother was Maria Catharine Smith, 
and one of her ancestors held a commission in Cromwell's army. 
She was a member of the Roxbury church. She died as already 
stated in 1797, at the age of 95. A tender and beautiful tribute 
to her memory, written in all the fulness of filial affection, by 
her son the Hon. Samuel Dexter, Sen. appeared in a newspaper 
then published in Dedham. It is, however, too long for inser- 
tion. 

The Rev. Mr. Dexter has recorded in his Journal the birth of 
eleven children, seven sons and four daughters. One of the 
sons, the Hon. S. I >exter, Sen. already mentioned, is well re- 
membered here. It was the wish of his father to educate him 
for the ministry, and for thia purpose he fitted him for College, 
but the theology of the day being abhorrent alike to his under- 
standing and his feelings, the design was abandoned. He en- 
gaged in the mercantile profession, and having, at the age of 36, 



95 

acquired property sufficient to satisfy his moderate desires, he 
relinquished business, and came, in 1662, to reside in his native 
town, where he remained till after the commencement of the 
Revolutionary war. He then retired to Woodstock, in Connec- 
ticut, and returned to Dedham after the close of the war. Not 
long after the death of his wife, in 1784, he sold his place to Dr. 
John Sprague, and went to Marlborough, thence to Weston, and 
in 1800, to Mendon, where he died in 1810, in the 85th year of 
his age, bequeathing in his will five thousand dollars to found a 
professorship for promoting the study of Biblical Criticism in 
Harvard University. 

Of the numerous marks of respect he received from the public, 
of the trusts reposed in him, and the responsible offices he was 
at different times, called to fill, it does not fall within the design 
of my present remarks to speak. It is pleasing to dwell on his 
merits of a humbler kind, to witness him as a citizen of the 
place, taking an interest in all its affairs, civil and religious, en- 
gaged on all important committees, for several years serving as 
clerk of the Town and Parish, the records of which, during his 
residence here, furnish ample testimony to his discretion, activi- 
ty, high standing, and influence. 

Mr. Dexter had a taste for theological reading, which he lib- 
erally indulged, but in his views he continued to the end of life 
to dissent from what he regarded as the austere doctrines of the 
Genevan school. He was eminent for piQty and talents; he was 
a man of scrupulous integrity, exact and methodical in all his 
habits. 

He married Hannah Sigourney, daughter of Mr. Andrew 
Sigourney, who was one of the Gompany of French Protestants, 
or Huguenots, who emigrating soon after the revocation of the 
Edict of Nantes, settled at Oxford, in Worcester county, but 
who being soon alter attacked by the Indians, fled to Boston. 
He was the father of the late Hon. Samuel Dexter. 

For the use of the Rev. Samuel Dexter's Diary, I am indebt- 
ed to the Misses Clap, of Dorchester, whose father Capt. Lem- 
uel Clap, married one of his daughters, and to Mrs. Palmer, late 
of Needham, and daughter of the late Rev. Jason Haven of this 
place, who also married a daughter of Mr Dexter. To Mrs. 
Palmer I am also indebted for other aid. The Journal contains 
some allusions to the eminent Divines of the early part of the 
last century, but I find nothing respecting them worth extracting. 
The following is the only incident I will quote. It is given un- 
der date of Feb. 21, 1723, when Mr. Dexter was a candidate for 
the ministry. " Visited old Dr. M. at Boston, and received his 
dying blessing. I begged his blessing. He replied, the Lord 



96 

be with you and bless you, and make your labors more successful 
than mine." This could be no other than Dr. Increase Mather, 
who died the 23d of August following, a disappointed and melan- 
choly old man. 



NOTE M, p. 66. 

A few remarks on the origin and history of these funds, and 
the conditions on which they are holden, may not be out of place 
here. As early as 1633, one acre of ground, on which the 
meeting house now stands, "abutting on High street towards 
the North," was obtained by the Town, in exchange, of Joseph 
Kingsbury, for the purpose of erecting a meeting house upon it, 
after it was determined not to place it on the spot originally re- 
served for it. In 1641, three years after, as the Proprietor's 
records informs us, "Mr. John Phillips alienateth and selleth to 
the Church three acres," being another part of the same lot, 
which bad been sold to him by Kingsbury the preceding year, 
having the burial ground on the South. The same year, 1641, 
said Kingsbury, upon a certain consideration, grants to the 
church the remaining three acres lying between the parcel last 
named and the acre before relinquished for the meeting house. 
In this way the church came into possession of the whole square. 
After this, grants or donations in land or money were, from 
time to time, made by the Proprietors or by individuals, the 
purpose being sometimes specified, as " for the use and accom- 
modation of a teaching church officer," at other times not, it 
being thought unnecessary probably, as it would be naturally 
inferred that property granted to a church, was intended to be 
bestowed for religious uses, of which the support of public wor- 
ship would be regarded as the principal. No more specific 
condition or limitation than that above mentioned, occurs in any 
of the grants; no other trust or use is named. There is no re- 
ference whatever to the theological sentiments of the Teacher, 
or the doctrines he is to explain or inculcate. In this respect 
the funds are, as I have already observed, wholly unfettered, a 
circumstance to which I am desirous of calling the attention of 
my readers, as I have reason to believe that the subject has 
been misapprehended by some who are unacquainted with the 
facts in the case. 

There is no evidence that the donors intended to throw any 
impediment in tho way of entire freedom of thought in those who 
should come after. Had they designed to leave posterity the 
liberty which they themselves enjoyed, and which they prized so 



97 

highly, of forming their own opinions on all subjects pertaining 
to religion, availing themselves of whatever further light might 
break forth from God's word, I see not how they could have 
proceeded otherwise than they did, for it is impossible that 
grants for a religious use, should be conveyed in more general 
and comprehensive terms. 

What portion of the lands thus acquired, were occupied by 
the minister, or what part of the proceeds of them was appropri- 
ated to his maintenance before the time of Mr. Dexter, we have 
no means of ascertaining. He, it will be recollected, had the 
use of all the lands "commonly known by the name of Parson- 
age." How much this included at that time, is not very clear. 
When Mr. Haven was settled, the church, as already stated, 
grants him the use of its land about the meeting house, and 
three meadows and one pasture, which are specified, in addition. 
In regard to the early management of the church property, I 
find no very satisfactory information. The Town, or the select 
men of the same, appear for some years to have had the custody 
of it, the affairs of the church and Town being here as else- 
where, at that period, intimately blended. In 1668, the Town 
chooses a committee on the subject of making some improvement 
on the Church Meadows, and renting the same. The committee 
rent them to Lieut. Joshua Fisher for three years, and engage 
to make him the offer of them for a further term, provided the 
church have no " occasion for them to supply the use of the 
ministry before." It is added, " the select men do allow of and 
confirm the above written covenant." Again, in 1673, we have 
an account of the renting of the Church Meadows for one year, 
one of them for " three loads of hay to be paid for the use of Mr. 
Adams," then minister. This, too, was an act of the select men. 
In 1668, the Town, as has been seen, was engaged in discussing 
the question of planting an orchard and making other improve- 
ments in what was called the Church lot. As early as 1686, how- 
ever, we find that the Deacons had the care of the lands and the 
proceeds of them. More than half a century afterwards, 1754, a 
law was passed constituting the Deacons of churches a corpora- 
tion for holding and managing property subject to the direction 
of the church. Before the passage of this law, as appears from 
the Deacon's Books, (pp. 124 et seqq ) the church had money 
to a certain amount at interest, loaned by the Deacons in trust 
for the benefit of the church. 

It was not, as before slated, till after the close of the revolu- 
tionary war, that an act of the church is recorded appropriating 
its annual income for the payment in part of the ministers salary. 
This appropriation was afterwards frequently omitted in order 



98 

still further to augment the funds, but it has now, for many 
years, been regularly made. 

The property belongs to the first, or old church, to be man- 
aged by its Deacons, whom the law creates a corporation for 
this and similar purposes, and who are to hold the same in trust, 
to be employed by them, under superintendence of the church, 
for the support of public worship for the general good of the in- 
habitants of the Parish. 

NOTE N, p. 63. 

The following is a list of Mr. Haven's printed Sermons. — 
Thanksgiving Sermon, Nov. 21, 1758 — Artillery Election Ser- 
mon, June 1, 1761 — Sermon at Framingham, 1761 — at Ordina- 
tion of Rev. Edward Brooks, at North Yarmouth, 1764' — at the 
General Election, 1769 — on the death of Hannah Richards, 
1770 — at Ordination of Ephraim Ward, Brooklield, 1771 — of 
Moses Everett, Dorchester, 1774 — at Funeral of Rev. Samuel 
Dunbar, 1783 — at Ordination of Rev S. Palmer, Needham, 
1792 — Sermon preached forty years after his ordination. 

The Rev. Jason Haven was born in Framingham, where his 
father was Deacon, March 2d, 1773, O. S. — was graduated at 
Harvard University, 1754, and in Nov. 1756, married Catharine 
Dexter, daughter of his immediate predecessor. He was a 
member of the Convention for forming the constitution of the 
Commonwealth, and an original member of the Massachusetts 
Charitable Society. 

Mr. Haven left, by will, thirty dollars, for the establishment, 
provided the same sum should be contributed in addition, of a 
Parish Library, to consist of works on religious subjects, "books 
of warm and bitter controversy being excluded." The plan and 
regulations of the Library were adopted at a meeting of the 
Parish, Aug 27, 1804, and the Library is open to all the mem- 
bers of the first Parish. Additions are now annually made to it 
by a collection taken at the Spring Fast. 

NOTE O, p. 70. 

The case came on for trial, at Dedham, at the Feb. Term, 
1820, and a verdict was then taken under the direction of the 
Judge, but questions being raised on certain points of law, the 
case was argued before a full court, at the October Term, 1820. 
The Opinion of the Court, which is long and elaborate, may be 
found in the 16th vol. Mass. Reports, pp. 488—522. 

In this decision the Court first examined the nature of the 
grants out of which the funds in question have arisen, and they 
came to the conclusion " that the land granted was for the bene- 
ficial use of the assembly of Christians in Dedham, which were 






99 

no other than the inhabitants of that town who constituted the re- 
ligious society within which the church was established," that 
" these inhabitants were the cestui que trusts — and the equitable 
title was vested in them, as long as they continued to constitute 
the assembly denominated the church in the grants;" the Dea- 
cons of the church being, by the law of 1754, constituted trustees 
for holding such propeity, the church having " supervisory pow- 
ers in the nature of visitation that they might compel the Dea- 
cons to appropriate the proceeds of the property, according to 
the will of the donors ' The question which next presented it- 
self was, "whether the Plaintiffs have proved themselves to be 
Deacons of the same church to which the grants were originally 
made for the trusts before mentioned." 

The Plaintiffs, it will be recollected, were Deacons of that 
part of the Old church which continued to be connected in wor- 
ship and ordinances with the Parish, i he question, which the 
court now proceed to discuss is, whether this is the true succes- 
sor of the old church, entitled to the name, and all the privi- 
leges of the said ancient or first church. They decide that it is. 
Most of our old churches have existed in connexion with cor- 
porate religious Societies, or Parishes; and if all the members 
of a church so situated, should withdraw, another church might 
be formed, which would succeed to all the rights and privileges 
of the old. 

After some argument, the court proceed " The conse- 
quences of the doctrine contended for by the defendant will 
glaringly show the unsoundness of the principle upon which the 
argument is founded. The position is, that whenever property 
is given to a church, it has the sole control of it, and the mem- 
bers for the time being may remove to any other place even with- 
out the Commonwealth, and carry the property with them. 

" Now property bestowed upon churches, has always been 
given for some pious or benevolent purpose, and with a particu- 
lar view to some associated body of Christians. The place in 
which the church is located is generally had in view by the do- 
nor, either because he there had enjoyed the preaching of the 
Gospel and the ordinances, or because it was the place where 
his ancestors or his family and friends had assembled together 
for religious purposes. These associations will be found to be 
the leading motive for the particular direction which his charity 
has received. If he gives to a church for the general purpose 
of promoting piety, or for the use of the poor of the church, he 
generally designates the body, by the place where it is accus- 
tomed to worship." 

To remove the property therefore, or what amounts to the 
same thing, to sever the connexion between the Parish and the 



100 

church the Deacons of which are by law constituted trustees for 
the holding of such property, would be to contravene the will 
of the donors. Thus, by the very act of secession, the members 
seceding, forfeit all claim to the name, rights, and privileges of 
the old, or original, church. 

Having ascertained the legal character of the original grants, 
and decided that the church remaining in connexion with the 
Parish constituted the first church, the true successor of the an- 
cient church, it only remained to inquire whether the Plaintiffs 
had been duly elected its Deacons. This led into a wide held 
of inquiry, partly historical, and partly relating to the question of 
ordination. 

I had marked some passages for extract, but the limits I 
must prescribe to myself forbid their insertion. I will give only 
the two concluding paragraphs. 

"The authority of the church should be of that invisible, but 
powerful nature, which results from superior gravity, piety and 
devout example; it will then have its proper effect upon the con- 
gregation, who will cheerfully yield to the wishes of those who 
are best qualified to select the candidate; but as soon as it is 
challenged as a right, it will be lost. The condition of the mem- 
bers of a church is thought to be hard where the minister elect- 
ed by the parish is not approved by them; this can only be be- 
cause they are a minority, and it is one part of the compensation 
paid for the many blessings resulting from a state of society. A 
difficulty of this nature surely would not be cured by returning 
to the old provincial system of letting the minority rule the ma- 
jority; unless we suppose that the doctrines of a minister are of 
no consequence to any but church members. Besides, in the 
present state of our laws, and as they are likely to continue there 
is no hardship, although there may be some inconvenience; for 
dissenting members of the church, as well as of the parish may 
join any other church and society; or they may institute a new 
society, so that they are neither obliged to hear nor to pay a 
minister in whose settlement they did not concur. It is true, if 
there are any parish funds, they will lose the benefit of them by 
removal, but an inconvenience of this sort will never be felt, 
when a case of conscience is in question. 

"Having established the points necessary to settle the cause, 
viz. that the property sued for belongs to the First Church in 
Dedham, sub modo, that is, to be managed by its Deacons un- 
der the superintendence of the church, for the general good of 
the inhabitants of the First Parish, in the support of the public 
worship of God — That the members of the church now associa- 
ted and worshipping with the First Parish, constitute the First 
Church — and that the plaintiffs are duly appointed Deacons of 



101 

that Church; it follows that the verdict of the jury is right, and 
that judgment must be entered accordingly." 

It only remains to add a few words on the question, did the 
majority of the church finally withdraw, and if not, why did that 
portion of it, which remained with the Parish, make no effort to 
rebut the evidence introduced by the seceders to show that a 
majority did retire? The answer is not difficult. The portion 
of the church which remained in connexion with the Parish, or 
their legal advisors, did not consider it as material, in the pend- 
ing controversy, on which side the majority was. They were wil- 
ling to concede to the other party all the advantage accruing to 
them from the supposition that the majority of the church mem- 
bers was proved to have withdrawn. This, they were the more 
ready to do, as they wished to present the case in its simplest 
form, and unincumbered by any extraneous questions. They 
wished to appeal to first principles. They believed that accor- 
ding to these principles the right was with them, and the event 
proved that, so far as human tribunals are capable of deciding, 
they were not in error. 

At the same time they maintained, and it is still maintained by 
us, that though the church by vote undoubtedly refused to con- 
cur with the Parish in the proceedings of the ordination, yet a 
majority of its members, including two or three individuals, who, 
though they had never had their relations formally transferred 
from other churches, had for many years, regularly communica- 
ted with this church, and had been recognized as members of it, 
by being appointed on committees, or elected as delegates to 
represent it at ordinations, certainly never did leave, but on the 
contrary, adhered to the Parish. Of this there is no question. 

But throwing out of view the names of the communicants al- 
luded to, it is further maintained, that a majority of the old mem- 
bers did not, in fact, retire, when, soon after the ordination, the 
dissatisfied members of the church and Parish, at length came 
to the determination to set up a separate altar over against the 
old; one dying before secession, and others, who opposed the 
proceedings of the Parish before the ordination, afterwards yield- 
ing their scruples, and living and dying in communion with the 
church adhering to the Parish. This, I believe, from a careful 
inspection of a very accurate list of the original members, to be 
a fact. It is certainly so. if we reject from the list the names of 
some, who had removed and permanently resided out of town, 
and one, if I mistake not, without the limits of the State, and 
who, it might be fairly argued, whatever might be the ecclesias- 
tical usage in such a case, were not in strict equity, and accor- 
ding to our republican notions, entitled to vote, and one of whom 
on being solicited, refused so to do, on the ground that being a 



102 

non resident here, he had no right to interfere. Of one thing 
there can be no dispute, that is, that after the ordination, there 
was a larger vote sanctioning the proceedings of the Parish than 
was ever given against them. I make this whole statement af- 
ter a diligent examination of authentic documents, and ample 
means of information, and I believe that every part of it can be 
fully substantiated. 

As before observed, the counsel for the Parish, or that part 
of the church which still adhered to it, — a fact which should ev- 
er be borne in mind, — did not see fit, for reasons already stated, 
to go into the question, on which side the majority was, and did 
not introduce any evidence on the point, or attempt to refute that 
introduced by the other party, but allowed the seceders all the 
benefit they might be able to derive from the concession, that 
they had shown the majority to be with them. Such a conces- 
sion in law, and so far as the trial was concerned, of course, 
was regarded as proof, and so it appears in the Report. This cir- 
cumstance has, I believe, led to some misapprehension, but as 
understood at the time, and according to the explanation above 
given, it cannot be appealed to as affording sanction to the be- 
lief, that a majority of the male church members did, in reality 
leave the old place of worship. 

I take peculiar satisfaction in observing that the excitement, 
which attended the controversy above referred to, has, we have 
reason to believe, completely subsided. None but friendly feel- 
ings now appear to exist between the members of the different 
religious societies in this place; the courtesies of social life are 
resumed, and the right of private judgment respected Ever 
may it be so. A religion of peace should lull to rest every un- 
holy passion of our nature. Its fruits should be peace. 

NOTE P. p. 70. 

A few miscellaneous facts, mostly of a recent date, I will 
throw together in this note. — In 1818 the old meeting house, 
in which we are now assembled, erected in 1662, retained, both 
within and without, its ancient form, the bell, which, however, 
was silent, being suspended in the porch on what now con- 
stitutes the north side, but which was then one of the ends. 
Soon after the induction of my predecessor into office, a com- 
pany was formed for the purpose of enlarging it, and the Parish 
granted them liberty to execute the project, and accepted a 
plan which had been presented by a committee on the subject, 
but difficulties afterwards occurring, the design was abandoned. 
In 1805, the Parish determine to enlarge it at their own ex- 
pense, and vote a sum of money for the object, but their votes 
were subsequently rescinded, and here it was understood that 



103 

the " whole matter" should be permitted to subside. In 1807, 
the Parish vote to erect a new meeting house, and agree on 
a plan for the same, and choose a building committee, and au- 
thorise them to proceed forthwith to make contracts, to borrow 
money, and to dispose of the old meeting house, or any part of 
it, or make use of the materials for constructing the new. This, 
and other votes on the subject were soon after rescinded, and so 
the matter rested till the autumn of 1819, when by vote of the 
Parish, the old house was enlarged by an addition in front, the 
direction of the roof being changed, the North and South porches 
being at the same time removed, and the building entirely re- 
modelled within. A clock was added without and within, the 
former being the gift of the Hon. Edward Dowse and Mrs. 
Hannah Shaw; and the latter, of Messrs. John and Samuel 
Doggett, jr. of Boston, formerly of Dedham. In 1821, an Or- 
gan was purchased; and the next year Dr. Watts' Version of 
the Psalms was exchanged for the New York Collection of 
Psalms and Hymns. 

In 1828, the Deacons were authorised by vote of the church 
to procure a vestry to be used for occasional meetings, for the 
Sunday school, and as a place of deposit for the Parish and Ju- 
venile Libraries. The origin of the former has been already 
stated. It contains over 400 volumes. The Juvenile Library 
was instituted by subscription in 1827, and is supported by a col- 
lection taken after the services on the day of the annual Thanks- 
giving. It contains between 400 and 500 volumes. 

The Council for the Ordination of the present Pastor, Oct. 
29, 1818, was composed of the following Ministers with their 

] I elevates Rev. Dr. Reed of Bridgewater — Rev. Doctors 

Kirkland and Ware, of the University Church, Cambridge — 
Rev. Mr. Palmer of Needham — Rev Mr. Bradford, and Rev. 
Dr. Gray of Roxbury — Rev Mr. Whitney of Quincy — Rev. 
Doctors Lowell and Channing of Boston — Rev. Mr. Ripley of 
Waltham — Rev. Mr White of Dedham — Rev. Mr Sanger of 
Dover — Rev. Mr. Field of Weston — and Rev. James Walker 
of Charlestown. Mr Field made the Introductory, Dr. Reed 
the Ordaining, and Dr. Gray, the Concluding Prayer Dr. 
Ware preached. Mr. Palmer gave the charge, and Mr. White 
the fellowship of the churches. The Result of Council was 
drawn up, and read in public by Dr. Channing. 

At the time of the ordination in 1818, the church had three 
Deacons, Dea. Joseph Swan, who died Nov. 13, 1818, — Dea. 
Jonathan Richards, who, in a communication addressed " to the 
First Church of Christ in Dedham," and bearing date the 22d 
of Feb. 1819, resigned his office; — and Dea. Samuel Fales, who 
having ceased to be connected in worship and ordinances with 



104 

the first church, was dismissed from office April 6th 1819 
without, however, any imputation on his moral and religious 
character. 6 

Dea. Eliphalet Baker and Dea. Luther Richards were chosen 
March 15th, 1819. The latter died Dec. 5th, 1832, and the 
Hon. John Endicott was chosen in his place. Dea Martin 
Marsh was chosen July 22d, 1838, the church having now three 
Deacons. 

The following list of those who have previously holden the of- 
fice in this church, with the year of their death, is as complete 
as 1 have the means of rendering it. Whether or not any 
names are wanting in the earlier part of it, I cannot say Hen- 
ry Chickering, died 1671— Nathan Aldis, 1676— John Aldis 
-1700— Thomas Metcalf, 1702— William Avery, 1708— Joseph 
Wight, 1729— Jonathan Metcalf, 1731— John Metcalf, 1749— 
Joseph Wight 1756— Jonathan Onion, 1758— Ephraim Wilson. 
1769— Richard Everett, 1746— Nathaniel Kinosbury 1775— 
William Avery, 1796— Ebenezer Richards, 1799— Joseph Whi 
ting, 1806— Isaac Billiard, 1808— Aaron Fuller, 1816. 

The Rev. Mr Haven in his Sermon preached Feb. 7th 1796 
forty years after his induction into office, states that of the 529 
persons who had died in the Barish during that term 74 died be- 
tween the ages of 70 and 80; 42 between the ages of 80 and 90- 
and 9 lived to the age of 90, or upwards; that is, about 1 in 59 
reached the age of 90 or more, 1 in 10 or 11, that of 80 and 1 
in between 4 and 5, the age of three score years and ten or 
more —Baptisms, 904 ; admissions to the church 276 ■ mar- 
riages, 279. 

Between Feb 7th, 1796, and Mr. Haven's death in 1803, the 
the number of persons whose deaths are recorded on the church 
book, is 110; of whom 11 died between the age of 70 and 80- 
10 between 80 and 90; and 3 over 90; that is, 1 in 36 reached 
the age of 90, or over; 1 in 8 the age of 80, and nearly 1 in 5 
that of 70 or more.— Baptisms, 114; admissions to the church' 
36; marriages, 43. ' 

Between 1803 and 1818, the number who died was 272- of 
whom 7 lived to be 90 or more; 15 died between 80 and 90; and 
32 between 70 and 80; that is, about 1 in 39 reached 90 a' little 
more than 1 in 12 lived to be 80 or more, and 1 in 5 t'o be 70 
or more.— Baptisms, 285; admissions to the church, 105; mar- 
riages, 141. 

Between 1818 and 1838, 278 have died; of whom 5 attained 
to the age of 90 and over; 18 died between 80 and 90- and 22 
between 70 and 80; that is, about 1 in 55 have lived to be 90 or 
more; 1 m 12 to 80 or over, and 1 in 6 to be 70 or more.— 
Baptisms, 138; admissions to the church, 53; marriages, 168. 

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